Cherkaski Mavpy opened up a big half-time lead but then had to hold on for dear life to upset Banvit 90-88 in the EuroCup on Monday.

After a very turbulent start to 2008 - Cherkaski parted with Lebanon international Fadi El-Khatib and also replaced coach Andriy Podkovyrov with his assistant, Volodymyr Kholopov - Mavpy needed a win after two straight defeats to start Group B.

And against Banvit, who also suffered losses in their opening two fixtures, all was going well in the first 30 minutes for the Ukrainian team as they led 73-62 advantage.

		Andrew Adeleke's efforts were not enough for Banvit

Turkish outfit Banvit, who got a game-high 28 points from their Nigerian center Andrew Adeleke, stormed back but ended up losing by just two points in Balikesir.

Martynas Andriukaitis had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Cherkaski and former BC Kyiv point guard Andrii Lebediev weighed in with a team-high 24 points.

Cherkaski could hardly have done a better job shooting the ball from long range, and that was probably the difference in this game.

They were a scintillating 14 off 25 (56%) from behind the arc, with Lebediev a hugely impressive six of nine (66.6%).

Five players in all hit from long range for the Ukrainian team.

Banvit still might have won if they had been able to hit their free throws. They finished just 12 of 20 (60%).

One of Mavpy's two new signings from the United States, Darren McLinton, had 12 points. The other, forward Charles Minlend, did not play.

Selcuk Ernak, coach Banvit:

"We could not play good defence in the first and second periods and that help the Cherkaski team to score 51 points in 20 minutes. We tried hard and came back from 11 points down and caught them twice in the second half. But we could not play the critical offences well enough at the end of the game. Also the injury of Donnell Harvey effected our big man rotation and created trouble for us."