By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Banvit, Iberostar Tenerife, Monaco and Reyer Venezia are the Basketball Champions League Final Four teams after emerging victorious from the home-and-away quarterfinals series of the competition.
The Final Four will be held in the home court of one of the participating teams from 28 to 30 of April. The semifinals will be decided after a draw.
In Germany, Furkan Korkmaz and Jordan Theodore (13 points) scoring the last 5 points of the game, Banvit beat Ludwigsburg 53 – 59 overcoming the first leg’s 87 – 92 loss in the very last second! Drew Crawford was the top performer for the hosts that came one defense short from the qualification.
Tenerife and ASVEL had finished their first match in France in a 62 – 62 tie, so the winner took all in this one. Through some excellent defense, Tenerife shut down its opponents 61 – 51 behind 12 points and 5 rebounds by George Bogris. Walter Hodge had 15 points and 5 assists for Villeurbanne.
Zach Wright had a near triple-double performance of 26 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds as Monaco confirmed it status as title favorites by defeating Dinamo Sassari (David Bell 20 points) 76 – 79 on the road. The team from Sardinia needed to win by over 11 points since the first leg game finished 73 – 62 but the Monegasques were too strong.
Finally, Venezia had an superb defensive second half where it forced Pinar Karsiyaka to 27 points to ultimately win 74 – 66. The Turkish squad would be safe with even losing by less than three points, since it had won 74 – 71 in Izmir but couldn’t connect to the basket after the break. Melvin Ejim posted a double-double of 16 points/11 rebounds for Venezia while J Covan Brown had 22 for Karsiyaka.