EuroChallenge: Quarterfinal pairings now set
Sami Lehtoranta heads to the hoop for Joensuun Kataja.
The quarterfinals begin on March 12th and will feature the following best of three game series with the higher seeded team getting the first and third games (if a third game is necessary) at home: Pinar Karsiyaka (1st Group I) vs. Paris Levallois (2nd Group J); BCM Gravelines (1st Group J) vs. Joensuun Kataja (2nd Group I); Krasnye Krylia (1st Group K) vs. Telekom Baskets (2nd Group L); and EWE Baskets (1st Group L) vs. BC Khimik (2nd Group K).
Group I
Gaz Metan Medias – BK Ventspils, 67:58
Gaz Metan Medias came into Week 6 knowing that they lose a tie-break with Joensuun Kataja if both teams win, so they had to pick up a win over BK Ventspils and then hope that the Finnish club lost for them to advance to the quarters. They did their part by winning 67:58, but as the news came in that Kataja had beaten the top ranked team in Group I, Pinar Karsiyaka, they realized that their hopes of moving on were stopped by a mere two points during the contests with Joensuun. Each team had won their home games during the two-game series, with Gaz Metan winning their match 84:82 and Kataja winning theirs 79:75. Had Ventspils won, they would have advanced as they beat Joensuun in the tie-break with a 75:61 win at home and Joensuun only winning 80:78 at home.
The hosts used a 16:4 run that crossed over from the first to the second frames to help build a 26:20 margin at the half. Ventspils was able to close the lead from 26:12 with a 0:8 run that ended the half. Mid-way through the third the visitors had sliced the margin to three 36:33, but by the end of the third frame the lead had grown to nine, 44:35. Ventspils never showed signs of a comeback in the fourth and let the margin get away from them, getting down by as many as 17 late in the final frame.
Kyle Shiloh was game-high for Medias with 15, Zoran Krstanovic added 13, and Slobodan Dundjerski contributed 10 points and 4 assists. Martins Meiers led the way for Ventspils with 14 points and 7 rebounds, Donald Sims added 12 points, and Sandis Valters dropped in 10 points.
Joensuun Kataja – Pinar Karsiyaka, 87:79
Joensuun Kataja had the toughest road to the quarterfinals of the three clubs as they faced the group leader Pinar Karsiyaka, whom they had lost to in their first contest, 89:70. Fortunately for Joensuun, they were perfect during the round in their home games, winning all three, while also losing all three road games to finish 3-3. The Finnish club took care of business by beating Pinar 87:79 and join their visitors as the Group I duo heading to the quarterfinals.
Kataja got out quick in this one, running off nine unanswered in the middle of the opening frame to get up 19:11. By the end of the first 10 they held a 27:19 advantage. They continued to push the lead getting up by 18 with just over a minute to play in the first half. Pinar got a free throw shortly after and then got a lay-up at the buzzer from Soner Sentürk to cut the lead slightly to 52:37. Pinar got nine unanswered in the middle of the third to get within reach at 10 points with just under four minutes in the quarter, but Joensuun was able to push it back to 14 points shortly after the Pinar run and by the end of the quarter they led 71:58. The hosts advantage grew to 19 with just over six minutes to play, but Pinar wasn’t going to go away quietly as they mounted a comeback that got them to within seven right before Antti Kanervo dropped in a single to close the books on the contest.
Pinar Karsiyaka will now match up with Paris Levallois in the next round, while Joensuun Kataja will lock horns with BCM Gravelines.
Jermaine Flowers was top man with 26 points and 6 rebounds for Kataja. Petri Virtanen added 19, and Sami Lehtoranta dropped in 17. Robert Dixon’s 18 was at the top of the list for Pinar, while William Thomas added 14 points and 9 rebounds.
Group J
Szolnoki Olaj – Paris Levallois, 74:80
Szolnoki Olaj and Paris Levallois came into the Week 6 contest with identical records, so qualification for the quarters came down to a single contest between the two. At the end of the game, Paris Levallois had earned their slot with a big road win, 74:80.
This match-up came down to the third quarter as the two clubs battled evenly in the first half to a 38:34 advantage in favor of Szolnoki. Paris ran off the first eight of the third frame to get up 38:42, then hit seven unanswered shortly after to go up 40:47. The advantage was still at seven with a minute to play in the period, but ended at five, 52:57 heading into the final 10. Olaj closed the margin to two, 60:62 early in the forth, only to be countered by seven straight from the guests to push back to seven 60:67. Mid-way through the frame Szolnoki knotted the score at 69, then again at 71, which was when Paris had had enough and dropped in nine unanswered to get up 71:80. A Horvath then closed out scoring with three free throws to cut the gap to six, 74:80.
Paris Levallois will next square off with Pinar Karsiyaka in the quarters.
Sean May came up big for Paris with 26 points and 6 rebounds. Jonathan Aka added 16 points and 5 rebounds, and John Cox dropped in 12 points. Marton Bader paced Paris with 13 points and 4 rebounds. Miklos Szabo added 12 points and 8 rebounds and Ernests Kalve contributed 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Hapoel Holon – BCM Gravelines, 79:85
This Week 6 contest had no advancement implications as Gravelines had locked up the group title earlier and Hapoel Holon came into the game winless in five games. Unfortunately for them, the guests Gravelines were able to counter a solid third quarter for Hapoel and hold them off in the third to finish at 5-1 in the group.
The visitors dominated early, getting up 11:25 with over a minutes to play in the first, while neither team scored again after a Kennedy Winston had hit four free throws on two trips to the line. Hapoel turned the tables on their visitors as they were able to cut four from the margin by outscoring the 21:17 in the second 10 to bring the score to 32:42 at half-time. The clubs exchanged baskets during the first part of the third frame, keeping the margin consistent, until the last two minutes of the frame when Hapoel got a pair of free throws and a lay-up from Franklin Hassell, then two triples by Naor Sharon, while Winston dropped in a two charity tosses during a 10:2 run by the hosts that cut the margin to three, 58:61. Hassell put an exclamation mark on the points that pulled his club to within one, 60:61, with a backboard rattling dunk. Unfortunately that also marked the end of the possibilities that the hosts would challenge for their for first win, as Gravelines ran off 10 straight to push the lead to 60:71. Hapoel was able to get to within six late in the final quarter and held on to that to close out the contest.
Gravelines will meet Joensuun Kataja in the quarterfinals.
Winston led Gravelines with 17 points and Ludovic Vaty added 15. Hassell was top scorer on the night for Hapoel with 21. Hill added 18 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists.
Group K
BC Khimik Yuzhne – Norrköping Dolphins, 81:51
As the starters in the BC Khimik Yuzhne vs. Norrköping Dolphins took the floor on Tuesday, both clubs had a shot at advancing to the quarters. Norrköping’s chances were slim, but they had an opportunity. Three and a half minutes into their final Last 16 game it was clear who was coming out of this one on top as Khimik had build an 11:1 advantage right out of the gate. By the end of the first quarter the hosts were up 23:12. The second quarter was even worse for the Dolphins as Khimik added 15 more to the difference, with a 26:11 quarter to head to the dressing rooms up 49:23. The hosts cruised to a 30-point win, by added another four to the advantage in the third and giving some valuable playing time to a number of guys on the bench.
Khimik next faces EWE Baskets in the quarterfinals.
Sava Lesic was game-high with 14 for Khimik, Stanislav Zavadskyi added 12, Suad Sehovic dropped in 11. Pierre Hamption and Christian Maraker were high scorers for Norrköping with 9 points each.
Krasnye Krylia – Tofas SC, 86:65
Krasnye Krylia stayed the only unbeaten team in the Last 16 round with a 21-point victory over Tofas SC, knocking the Turkish club out of contention for the second slot in the quarterfinals from Group K.
The hosts built and early lead, taking the first frame 23:14, but Tofas countered in the second with a 2:11 run that cut the lead to four, 29:25. Krasnye then went on a 13:3 run to hold a 14-point advantage at the half, 42:28. In the third, Tofas was able to get to within 11, but an 8:2 run to close out the frame put the hosts up 16, 67:51, heading into quarter four. Tofas never challenged in the fourth and allowed the Group K winners to extend to 21 by the end of the contest, dashing their hopes of extending their first EuroChallenge season into the quarters.
The win gave the Russian club the honor of being the only Last 16 squad to run the table and finish with a 6-0 record, but they also went 6-0 in the qualifying round, so they have accumulated 12 straight EuroChallenge wins thus far this year. Their next opponent will be Telekom Baskets in a best of three series in the quarterfinals.
Group L
Telekom Baskets – Tsmoki-Minsk, 86:72
Having already qualified for the quarterfinals, Telekom Baskets didn’t need the win to advance, but scored a 14-point victory over the last placed club in Group L, Tsmoki-Minsk, 86:72.
The early advantage went to Tsmoki as they wrapped up the first quarter with a 16:19 lead. Telekom erased the deficit early in the second with a 10:1 run that gave them the lead for good at 28:24. Tsmoki would get within two in the third period, but never could get over the hump and Telekom started slowly pulling away through out the second half to finish the Last 16 with a 4-2 record and second place finish in the group. Tsmoki-Minsk ends the round at 1-5.
Jonas Wohlfarth-Botterman and Kyle Weems each dropped in 15 points to lead Telekom. Benas Veikalas and Chris Ensminger added 10 points apiece. Tierre Brown’s 18 points was game-high for Tsmoki, while teammates Aliaksandr Pustahvar and Dzianis Korshuk contributed 14 each.
Telekom Baskets will now meet up with unbeaten Krasnye Krylia in the quarterfinals.
EWE Baskets – Okapi Aalstar, 82:74
Group L winners EWE Baskets had a challenge on their hands when Okapi Aalstar came to town for the final Last 16 game. The German club ended up with an eight-point win, but they trailed for the better part of the first half, before a big third frame gave them an advantage that Okapi couldn’t overcome.
The guests held a two-point lead after the first quarter, 16:18, but an 8:0 run in the second gave EWE enough to get on top and close out the first half up 32:31. The hosts opened the second have with a big 8:0 run to get up by nine, 40:31, only to hae Okapi counter that with their own scoring burst to pull within two, 42:40. It was Oldenburg’s turn to click off some points, which meant another 8:0 run, extending the lead back to eight, 48:40. They decided to exchange baskets through the rest of the frame, with the visitors closing the scoring out with a jumper to give EWE a nine-point advantage, 57:48. Okapi was able to get within six points in the final 10, but EWE took advantage of the charity stripe, knocking down 13 of 14 freebies to hold off all challenges down the stretch.
EWE will now see Khimik in the quarterfinal round.
Quarterfinal Match-ups:
Pinar Karsiyaka vs. Paris Levallois
BCM Gravelines vs. Joensuun Kataja
Krasnye Krylia vs. Telekom Baskets
EWE Baskets vs. Khimik
EuroChallenge Group I Final Standings
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EuroChallenge Group J Final Standings
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EuroChallenge Group K Final Standings
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EuroChallenge Group L Final Standings
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