We now know all of the 8 teams in the Eurocup quarter-finals and one thing is for certain. There will be a new winner of the Eurocup this season as all of the eight teams left in the tournament have never triumphed in the Eurocup before.
4 teams booked their passage to the quarter-finals on Tuesday night and the remaining 4 games took place on Wednesday evening.
Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas 77 – Limoges CSP 78
The home fans had to endure a loss on Wednesday evening but in the end, they were smiling as the comfortable home leg victory ensures that Las Palmas would be making their way through to the Eurocup quarter-finals. The 77-78 result this was week was nowhere near enough to turn around the 65-82 result in the opening leg, allowing Las Palmas to advance with a 159-143 record.
Gran Canaria were led by Alen Osmic who grabbed 15 points, Brad Newley offered up 13 points, Kevin Pangos picked up 12 points and Sasu Salin offered up 10 points. For the away team, Ali Traore grabbed 19 points, Bo McCalebb picked up 17 points, Nobel Boungou-Colo offered up 16 points and Leo Westermann grabbed 19 points. The away team started strongly, keen to eat into the deficit but at half-time, the score was 42-42. A 0-8 run pushed the away team ahead again and although they kept in front, they couldn’t impact on the aggregate score-line.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 79 – Banvit Bandirma 82
In the end, it seemed comfortable for the Milan side that won both games of the two legged affair. However, they were only ahead by 3 points coming into his game, which makes the fact that they were 12 points behind in the third quarter on Wednesday night a big concern for their fans. In the end though, the team rallied and actually managed to clinch victory on the night, booking their place in the quarter-final by a 161-155 margin.
The away side were 41-47 ahead at half-time and in the third quarter were looking good to grab the win that would make all the difference. However, the hosts, roared on by the crowd, bounced back and took control of the game again.
Oliver Lafayette grabbed 15 points, Krunoslav Simon picked up 13 points and Rakim Sanders offered up 12 points for Milan. For Banvit, Adrien Moerman was the key player with 18 points; Dominique Johnson provided 16 points while Courtney Johnston managed to offer 10 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists in the loss.
Zenit St. Petersburg 89 – Nizhny Novgorod 74
With a 26 point lead coming into the second leg game, Nizhny always had plenty to spare. Zenti managed to win by 15 points but they were still a long way off of claiming the tie, with the final score ending 176-165.
Ryan Toolson was the key man for the hosts with 24 points, Zab Dowdell offered up 15 points, Anton Pushkov provided 14 points and Andrey Desnyatnikov provided 11 points in the win which ultimately meant little. Semen Antonov was the kay man for the away team with 18 points and there was a double-double for Victor Rudd, with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Vladimir Ivlev and Dmitriy Khvostov both grabbed 14 points in the loss on the night.
Unics Kazan 54 – Stelmet Zielona Gora 71
This was a big shock in the Eurocup. Unics won 68-72 in the first game but in the end, a huge away win sees Stelmet Zielona Gora in the quarter-final with a 139-126 aggregate score. An 0-11 scoring run in the third quarter put Gora ahead and they never looked back, never allowing the hosts within 6 points late on in the game.
Mateusz Ponitka provided 18 points, all in the second half, Dee Bost offered up 17 points and Vlad Moldoveanu grabbed 12 points in the win. For Unics, Kostas Kaimakoglou provided 12 points and Anton Ponkrashov offered up 10 points.
The finalised quarter-final line-up for the Eurocup is as follows:
- FC Bayern Munich v Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul
- Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas v Stelmet Zielona Gora
- Strasbourg v Nizhny Novgorod
- EA7 Emporio Armani Milan v Dolomiti Energia Trento