To say Yarone Arbel likes basketball would be an understatement of epic proportions.  He eats, sleeps and breathes it and gives his EuroCup impressions every week in Good News, Bad News.

AEL and Tartu Rock came close to losing their place at the top of the group in front of their fans against teams which played with no pressure, but found the strength to turn the game upside down.

Two Russian teams - Ural Great and Rostov- didn't show up to their last deciding road game, while Nando De Colo made a perfect finale to his great EuroCup season.

The Good News

AEL's run to the free throw line
AEL secured their spot in the Quarter Final Round before the last game, but had to beat Spartak St. Petersburg at home to secure first place and hold a home court advantage in the quarters. We mentioned here already several times how difficult it is to beat AEL in their home court, and that last year they stayed out of the Final Four after losing 2-1 without the home court advantage. Spartak, who had only a sporting interest in the game, played without pressure, and at led 48-33 at the half, but in the last 5:30 of the third quarter they allowed AEL to attack the basket too easily and lost all the margin. From down 52-39 the

Nando De Colo delivered an amazing game for Cholet in their EuroCup finale.

Doronin saved Tartu's home
2,677 km north of Limassol, in Tartu, Estonia, the exact same scenario took place. Tartu Rock needed a win to maintain the top spot in Group A, while Finnish side Lappeenranta played just for the fun of it. Just like in Limassol the no-pressure visitors shocked by taking a double-digit lead in the first quarter, but Tartu had someone to save the day. With 45 seconds to play in the second half Tartu was down 41-29 and without the ball, but then local forward Marek Doronin stepped up. He grabbed two rebounds, one on each end, and connected on two basket-and-foul plays in a row to cut the lead in half to six before half time. From that point on life was easier for Tartu but they still entered the last 45 second of the game tied at 72-72. It was no surprise Doronin was the one to score four of Tartu's last six points which decided the game. His game total of 21 points, with no missed shots in nine attempts from two point range, in addition to three perfect attempts from the line, were all season highs just at the right moment. 

De Colo's finale
One of the most shinning players in the EuroCup this season made a finale with one of it's biggest individual performances. Cholet's Nando De Colo is only a little over 20 years old but he finished as the runner-up in the top scorer race with 19.3 ppg. A lot of that had to do with his last game at home against Barons LMT. De Colo set a new individual high in the EuroCup with 37 points behind 8 out of 13 from two point range, a perfect night from longer range with three made shots in addition to a magnificent 12 out of 12 from the line - the best free throw shooting performance of the competition. In addition he had two rebounds, two assists, three steals and no turnovers. With three minutes to go Barons still held a 78-71 lead, before De Colo scored five points in a row, to lead a 9-0 deciding run. Can't really ask for more.

The Bad News 

Ural Great got lost
Ural Great Perm traveled to Belgium to face Dexia Mons-Hainaut with their eyes set on the quarter-finals. Both teams had qualified to the next round before the last game, but the first spot in Group B with the home court advantage in the quarters on the line. In Perm the Russian side struggled against Dexia's defense but won 60-58 so they could allow a one point loss, but that didn't happen. Once again Dexia's defense, which is the second best in the EuroCup in points allowed, stopped Ural Great, this time on 60 points, on the way to a 21 point win and the top spot in the group. The visitors came into the game with a season average of less than 14 turnovers per game, but on Tuesday night committed over 75% more than their season average with 25. Brindley Wright committed seven of them, also double his season average. In the previous game against Dexia he wrote down four turnovers while in the other five EuroCup games he lost a total of seven balls. But Brindley wasn't the only victim of Dexia's tough defense. Four other players had three turnovers or more. Ironically Ivan Koljevic, the Montenegrin point guard of Ural Great, made only a single turnover, less than he had in each of his last five EuroCup games.

Rostov stepped down
Ural Great wasn't the only Russian team that lost a key road game on the last day. Lokomotiv Rostov visited Khimik Yuzhny and needed just a single point win to take the hosts' spot in the quarter-finals, but eventually lost 78-62. Since Khimik made 15 out of 31 shots from two point range and the visitors connected the same amount out of one shot less from the same range, the difference was in other spots on court. Coming into this game Rostov held a season average of six three-pointers out of 18 shots. In their deciding game of the season they lost that accuracy, and made only five out of 28 shots from that range. The locals on the other hand stepped up from that range improving their averages to finish the game with eight three-pointers out of 20 attempts. The same happened on the charity stripe. While Rostov's percentages dropped from 77% coming to the game to 68% in the deciding game, Khimik jumped from a worse average of 73.7% to an impressive 80%.

Spartak's third quarter equation
Reminder: After last week's games we mentioned the third quarter score is the test case for Spartak. Whenever they entered the last quarter with a lead, they fell apart in the deciding one and lost. In the single time they entered the deciding quarter trailing, they managed to turn the game upside down and get their only win. That left out one scenario, but it was fixed this week when Spartak finished the third in a tie. The outcome, just to set the numbers right, was a one point loss, as close as possible to the third quarter result.