Banvit Break Through As Ural Great Stumble

It took four games but Banvit finally broke into the Group B win column in the EuroCup on Tuesday with a 71-70 home win over leaders Ural Great.

Christopher Hill had 17 points and five rebounds for Banvit while Alexander Bashminov had a game-high 21 points and seven boards in defeat.

Inanc Koc, the Banvit captain, said: "This game was really important for our prestige.

"We lost all the games in EuroCup up to now on the final possession and at the end, we won at the last ball.

"I think we showed that we had the ability to qualify for the top eight but unfortunately, we weren't able to do it."

Trailing 70-66 with 1:04 remaining, Banvit's Yigitcan Turna connected from long range to pull the Turkish outfit to within just one point.

Ivan Koljevic was then off target for Ural Great with a shot from three-point range, and Banvit scored again to go in front by one, this time with a lay-up by Hill just 20 seconds from the end.

Ural Great, who went into the game with four wins and at the top of the group, still had plenty of time.

However, Koljevic missed with a jump shot.

Bashminov grabbed the offensive rebound and put up a last-gasp attempt at victory but his jump shot was off the mark as Banvit held on.

Ural Great, who had already qualified for the Quarter-Final Round of the competition, will still be kicking themselves after letting victory slip through their fingers.

They had clawed their way back from a 39-31 deficit late in the second quarter to go in front by as many as six points in the fourth quarter.

The final result might have been more favorable for Ural Great had their starting point guard Andrew Wisniewski played more, but he saw just six minutes of action and finished with three points.

Ural Great turned the ball over 21 times and they were a woeful two of 16 from three-point range.

Banvit made 10 of 23 shots from long range.

Quotes Banvit BC vs. Ural Great

Selcuk ERNAK (BANVIT B.C. HEAD COACH):

"The energy provided by our young players helped us to win the game. We could not show the performance we wanted in the EuroCup this season because of many reasons  but we are a young team and we improve day by day. EuroCup was a great experience for us on the way of achieving our goals."

Inanc KOC (BANVIT B.C. CAPTAIN):

"This game was really important for our prestige. We lost all the games in EuroCup up to now at the last ball and at the end we won at the last ball. I think we showed that we had the capacity to qualify to the top eight but unfortunately we could not able to do that."