By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Marcus Denmon 25 points and Sylvain Francisco with 21 and seven assists led a balanced effort for Peristeri which got the 90-87 win over Bnei Ofek Dist Herzilya and qualified to the play-ins of the Basketball Champions League over the Israelis.
With both teams heavily betting on their starters, Miro Bilan had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Dimitris Agravanis added 12 points and seven rebounds.
For the losing side Maurice Kemp had one more game to remember with 32 points and nine rebounds, Stephen Thompson added 16 points, Chris Babb had 14 and Julian Gable 13 and nine rebounds, while Quinton Hooker dished 11 assists.
Denmon completed a stellar first half with a buzzer beating three for a total of 19 points, as Peristeri managed to get a 48-45 advantage over the hosts. On the other hand, Maurice Kemp had also 18 points, totally changing the momentum for Bnei Herzliya after an 17-9 start from the guests.
The game was a dogfight with the hosts entering the last quarter up by one point (68-67) but ultimately a big three by Francisco gave to Peristeri a crucial 82-74 lead with less than three minutes left. After that Bnei couldn’t get into striking distance again and ended up being eliminated.