By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Neptunas Klaipeda, Tsmoki Minsk, Keravnos Strovolo and Donar Groningen are the first four teams that advanced to the Basketball Champions League Qualifiers Finals after the completion of their semifinal stage.
Neptunas spoiled the newcomers’ party of the London Lions with a 77 – 73 win and Norbertas Giga hitting the go-ahead free throws with seconds on the clock. Giga dropped 15 points and was the top scorer of his team together with Dziugas Slavinskas who added 14 rebounds for a strong double-double.
Matthew Bryan-Amanging posted 16 points and nine rebounds for the Lions.
Neptunas will face Tsmoki Minsk for a spot in the regular season. The latter beat Balkan Botevgrad behind Kris Clyburn’s (younger brother of CSKA Moscow star Will Clyburn) 19 points, four rebounds plus three assists. Maksim Salash contributed a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.
For Balkan Botevgrad, Tajuan Agee had 19 points.
Davonte Lacy scored 19 points and former NBAer Damjan Rudez notched 13 points, five rebounds and five assists as Donar Groningen routed Dnipro 88 – 53 to advance in style to the Final where the team will play against Kervanos. Anatoliy Shundel and Maksym Zakurdaiev scored 13 points each for the losing side.
Led by Brandon Rozzell’s 24 points, six assists plus five rebounds and powered by an 18-35 shooting from beyond the arc, Keravnos prevailed over Iraklis 96 – 94 in overtime. Olivier Hanlan had 24 points for Iraklis in the team’s historic return to European competitions for the first time after 2004-2005.