EuroChallenge: Final two qualify for Final Four

The Final Four of the 2013 EuroChallenge are now set as Pinar Karsiyaka defeated Paris Levallois, 85:69, and EWE Baskets stopped Khimik, 100:78 on Tuesday. The clubs will match up with Krasnye Krylia and BCM Gravelines, who won their best of three series last week.

The semifinal games will be played on April 26th and will be:
Pinar Karsiyaka – EWE Baskets
BCM Gravelines – Krasnye Krylia

The EuroChallenge Championship game will be held April 28th between the winners of the above two games, the losers of the semifinal contests will play each other for 3rd place.

EuroChallenge Quarterfinals, Game 3, March 19
Pinar Karsiyaka – Paris Levallois, 85:69
Pinar Karsiyaka earned their spot in the EuroChallenge Final Four with a big win on their home court against Paris Levallois, 85:69. Paris had won the first game of the best of three on the road, 74:76, then Pinar won the second game, also on the road, 66:72. With the final game moving back to Pinar’s home court and with the first two games going to the visitors in each game, game three was looking like it could have been barnburner, but it never materialized as Pinar got out to a big early lead and held on for the rest of the contest.

Paris did give the 4,000 in attendance reason for worry early on as the knocked down the first seven points of the game. Then the hosts got a triple from Melvin Sanders, which was the start of a 21:1 run, closing out the first frame with Pinar on top 21:8.

The scoring dominance continued for Pinar to the mid-way point of the second, where they added another 14:4 run getting the hosts up 35:12. Andrew Albicy connected on two triples for Paris to kill the drought for the visitors, but the damage had been done and the best they could do was maintain the 18-point margin Pinar built in the first half.

Opening the second half with the score at 44:26, Paris had a massive come-back in front of them if they wanted to move on to the Final Four and they did the job by cutting the margin to 10 with just over a minute left in the third 10. Robert Dixon killed the momentum with a triple at the buzzer to push the lead back to 14-points heading into the final frame.

Paris had 10 minutes to gap 14 points, so they had no time to waste, but they weren’t able to tally up their first points for three minutes, while Pinar had already put down five to get back to a 19-point advantage and put the contest and the Final Four out of reach of the Paris club. By the time the final horn went off Pinar had a 16-point victory, 85:69.

Dixon and William Thomas each dropped in 22 for Pinar. Thomas and Sanders tallied double-doubles, Thomas scored 22 and collected 10 rebounds, Sanders knocked down 11 points and hauled in 10 rebounds. Abdul Aminu added 10 points.

Sean May was game-high for Paris with 23 points and 8 rebounds.

EWE Baskets – Khimik, 100:78
The EWE – Khimik quarterfinal match-up has given those in attendance a good show during the first two weeks of the EuroChallege final round as EWE took the first game at home, 82:74, and then Khimik evened the series with a 66:61 win on their home court. Game three came back to Oldenburg and over 2,200 fans came to see their boys attempt to earn the final spot in the EuroChallenge Final Four.

If the first quarter was an indication of what was to come, this contest was going to be a wild one as the clubs exchanged the lead 15 times over the first 12 minutes and they tied things up eight more times. At the end of the first quarter the hosts held on to a slim one-point advantage, 25:24.

A minute and a half into the second quarter, Sava Lesic connected on a jumper to put Khimik up 29:31, but that would be the last points the visitors would score for two minutes, while EWE would collect eight to go up 37:31. From that point the hosts would extend their lead, then Khimik would reel them back in, but every time they’d do the exchange Khimik would fall a bit farther behind, until they were looking at a 13-point deficit with 43 seconds to play in the half. Willie Deane hit on a pair of singles to end the half at 56:45.

The third quarter started with a Miroslav Todic triple to close the gab to eight, but two consecutive Adam Chubb jumpers extended the lead back to 12. EWE was able to get up by as many as 17 in the third 10, but settled for 15 as the frame ran out, 81:66.

An 11-point run in the middle of the final quarter iced the game for EWE and gave them their biggest lead at 24-points. When the final horn sounded, the hosts had earned a spot in the Final Four with a 100:78 win.

Ricky Paulding was game-high for EWE with 24 points, and 7 rebounds. Chubb added 22 points and 5 rebounds, Julius Jenkins scored 17, and Konrad Wysocki dropped in 11.

Deane was high man for Khimik with 23, Devoe Joseph added 14, and the duo of Lesic and Todic dropped in 12 each.

EuroChallenge Quarterfinals, Game 2, March 14
Paris Levallois – Pinar Karsiyaka, 66:72 (Series tied 1-1)
Joensuun Kataja – BCM Gravelines, 98:102 (2 OT, Gravelines wins Series 2-0)
Telekom Baskets – Krasnye Krylia, 85:95 (Krasnye wins Series 2-0)
Khimik – EWE Baskets, 66:61 (Series tied 1-1)

EuroChallenge Quarterfinals, Game 1
Pinar Karsiyaka – Paris Levallois, 74:76
EWE Baskets – Khimik, 82:74
Krasnye Krylia – Telekom Baskets, 80:60
BCM Gravelines – Joensuun Kataja, 86:57