For those who missed ‘em, BallinEurope runs below the official wrapups from last night’s Eurocup Qualifying Round games. Tonight, the first leg finishes with Artland Dragons hosting Gran Canaria 2014 and Spartak St. Petersburg playing at Etha Engomis’ house.
Le Mans Sarthe Basket 80, Pinar Karsiyaka 73. A brilliant fourth quarter for Le Mans led the club to a come-from-behind win at Pinar Karsiyaka that gives head coach J.D. Jackson’s squad a seven-point cushion heading into Game 2 of the Eurocup Qualifying Round series. Marcellus Sommerville scored eight in a 22-3 blitz to start the fourth quarter, giving Le Mans the lead for good and possible determining the outcome of the series. … Taylor Rochestie paced Le Mans with 17 points and 6 assists, Sommerville scored 16 and J.P. Batista 14 for the winners. Mire Chatman scored 17 and Ilkan Karaman accounted for 14 points and 15 rebounds for the home team.
Telenet Oostende 88, Norrkoping Dolphins 62. Oostende practically sealed its spot in the Eurocup regular season with an 88-62 drubbing of Sweden’s Norrkoping Dolphins in the opening leg of their qualifying round series. Jason Rich scored 19 and Matthew Lojeski 18 to lead six Oostende scorers in double figures in the one-sided outcome. The game was decided by Oostende outscoring Norrkoping 51-30 in the middle two quarters. Andrew Mitchell led the Dolphins with 13 points and Anton Saks added 10.
Beşiktaş JK 78, Dexia Mons-Hainaut 70. BallinEurope brief is here.
Elan Chalon 78, Cedevita Zagreb 73. Elan Chalon coughed up a 22-point, fourth-quarter lead against Cedevita Zagreb, but held on for a 78-73 victory. Chalon seemed to be in cruise control heading into the last 10 minutes, but ran into Chris Owens and then Vedran Vukusic, who carried Cedevita all the way back to set up an exciting Game 2 in Zagreb next week. Alade Aminu led Chalon with 20 points and 7 rebounds and Blake Schilb added 14 points for the winners. Owens paced Cedevita with 17 points and reigning Eurocup MVP Dontaye Draper added 13.
BK Ventspils 75, BC Azovmash Mariupol 74. BK Ventspils edged BC Azovmash 75-74 on a buzzer-beating Jahmar Young three-point shot. Young shined all night for the winner and finished with a game-high 28 points. Samuel Wilard added a double-double of 10 points and 11 boards for Ventspils. Ricky Minard paced Azovmash with 16 points and Hasan Rizvic and Rado Rancik tallied 14 each in defeat.
Lukoil Academic 70, BK Prostejov 65. Lukoil Academic held on for a 70-65 win over BK Prostejov thanks to 17 points from Lamont Mack. The all-time leading Eurocup scorer, Todor Stoykov, and Bozhidar Avramov added 10 each for the Bulgarian champs. Jamar Smith paced Prostejov with 22 points and Bertengeh Gadri tallied 10 points and 9 rebounds in defeat.
