Gran Canaria, Kazan, Panellinios Win in Eurocup

Red Star Tie At Allianz in Second Round Qualifiers

Nov 7, 2008

Unics Kazan and Gran Canaria both took big steps to reaching the Eurocup regular season after big wins in their second qualifying round first legs.

Two teams grabbed road victories in the first leg of the Eurocup second qualifying round while Gran Canaria, Unics Kazan and Panellinios all won big and Red Star played to a tie game at Allianz Swans. The return legs will be played on November 11.

Unics Kazan struggled in the first round first leg but has been strong since then, taking the second round first leg with a comfortable 88-66 victory at home over Hapoel Jerusalem. Terrell Lyday scored 17 points and Vladimir Veremeenko collected 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead five players in double figures. Unics committed just nine turnovers and held Hapoel to 1-of-10 on three-pointers for the win.

The Russian side Unics cannot, however, just look past Hapoel as the Israeli side beat Kazan by 39 points last season in the ULEB Cup. Timothy Bowers scored 18 points and Travis Watson had 14 points and 10 rebounds but it was not enough.

Gran Canaria cruised to an easy victory in the first leg on the road, thrashing Benetton Fribourg 92-64 thanks to 24 points by Joel Freeland. Every player scored at least four points with Melvin Sanders hitting 17 and James Augustine scored 12 for the Spanish side. Freibourg, which got 19 points from Bruce Fields, faces a huge uphill battle in the return leg as Gran Canaria went 22-2 at home in the ULEB Cup over the past four seasons.

Panellinios also looks very good in reaching the regular season after beating up on BC Kyiv 96-69 at home. Anthony Grundy tallied 24 points and Ivan Radenovic added 21 points for the Greek side. Brindley Wright scored 14 points for the Ukrainian side Kyiv, which forced just nine Panellinios turnovers.

Oostende Beats Le Havre On the Road

The only other team to win on the road in the first leg was Base Oostende, which beat Le Havre 85-84 as Nick Fazekas scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter. Devin Green led the way with 20 points and Matt Haryasz had 15 points. Le Havre got a great game from Bingo Merriex - 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists - and Ronald Thompson had 19 points but they did not get enough support from the others.

Red Star meanwhile went to Austria and came up with an 82-82 tie in the first leg. The Serbian side was ahead late but Deteri Mayes knocked down a three-pointer with 17 seconds to even the game. Mayes and Anthony Fisher both scored 21 points for Allianz while Tadija Dragicevic paced Red Star with 17 points and Vladimir Stimac had 12 points in just 16 minutes of action.

Galatasaray, FMP Win Close Home Games

Galatasaray and FMP both have to sweat out going on the road for their second legs after close wins at home. Milan Gurovic and Dejan Milojevic combined for 47 points as Galatasaray in an 85-83 victory over Buducnost, which was led by Vladimir Dasic with 23 points. Dragan Labovic meanwhile collected 22 points and seven rebounds as FMP beat Ural Great 69-61.

The final first leg match was played in Latvia where ASK Riga breezed past Cajasol 83-69 thanks to 21 points from Bruno Sundov and 19 points by Ricardo Marsh.

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