The Quarter-Final Round is here and we couldn't ask for more. With Game two coming up on Thursday night, four teams have only three wins separating them from the Continental title, but they know it won't be an easy run.

Only two teams managed to win their home games on tip off night, and travel to the second game with a peaceful state of mind. Two others will have to step up to stay alive for Game Three.

Proteas EKA AEL, as expected, used their home court advantage to write an 82-72 victory over EclipseJet MyGuide Amsterdam, although the visitors weren't too far from an upset, despite a terrible night from point guard Orien Greene.

Darius Vashington came up big for Ural Great in their win over Triumph.

Telekom Baskets switched games with Virtus BolognaFiere, and hosted the first game, but other than a 2-0 lead they had to chase after the visitors the entire game, and eventually lost 86-76. Virtus will host the next game, and the third as well if necessary, and seem to have one and a half feet in the Final Four.

The most intriguing game of opening night was in the Russian derby when Triumph Lyubertsy erased a ten point difference in the last 98 seconds to force overtime, before Ural Great's Darius Vashington won the game single handedly in the last seconds of the extra period. The teams now travel to Perm, where Ural will try to qualify to the Final Four for the first time since their appearance in 2004.

The Good News

Triumph spirits:

If you followed this EuroChallenge season closely you would know it's never over for Triumph Lyubertsy, especially when they play in Moscow. Several times they have shown great character in the closing quarter or even the last minute, to save the day. Game One was no different, although eventually it wasn't enough. Nevertheless, when Ralph Biggs hit two from the charity stripe for Ural Great to give his team a convincing 88-78 lead with only 1:38 to play it seemed like a done deal, but the ghosts and spirits of Triumph are headstrong. The locals responded by scoring seven points in a row while forcing two turnovers thanks to great defense, to cut the margin to three. Darius Vashington scored two from the line again to make it a five point game with 22 seconds on the clock, but it wasn't done yet. Fedor Dmitriev scored from distance with 12 ticks to play, but Ural still had the ball and the lead. In a heroic play EJ Bremer stole the ball and allowed Marque Perry to complete a huge come back and force overtime on a game that seemed sealed and over. The soul of Triumph was once again in effect, and the momentum deep in their pocket, only this time there was one small player having a huge night that made the difference against them.

Unstoppable Vashington:

The 188cm point guard, Darius Vashington, was the one to lose the critical ball at the end of regulations, but he paid back big time in the extra period. Vashington came very close to an eye-popping triple-double with 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Each of them was a season high, and just in the most perfect time. At first it seemed as Vashington would not go down in the history pages of Ural Great as a big winner, as he missed his first three shots in the extra time in addition to another miss from the foul line, but in the last minute it was a one man show. Out of Ural's 12 points in the extra five minutes Vashington scored the last nine, eight of them in the last 40 seconds. But that wasn't the whole picture. With 12 seconds to play the Bremer-Perry duo combined another big play as the first dished an assist to the latter who hit a huge three-pointer and give the locals a 100-99 lead.  Following a timeout Vashington took the game on his shoulders, attacked the rim and in a huge play scored the bucket while being fouled. He added the bonus from the line and this time it was too much even for the ghosts and spirits of Triumph's hall.

A run with a statement:

Virtus don't have great memories from Germany. In the Top 16 they were shocked twice by Oldenburg, including a nine point loss on German soil - their toughest loss of the season. Pairing with another German club - Telekom Baskets in the Quarter-Final Round might have raised some worries in Bologna and hopes in Bonn, and so Virtus had a mission, to make it clear who's the boss in this series. The hosts scored the first bucket of the night, but went scoreless in the following five minutes as the Italian side scored 14 points in a row, just to make sure Telekom's lines would be jammed for the rest of the night. Virtus never looked back, reached a gap of more than 20 already in the first half, and even when the locals came back to just five points down, Keith Langford, having a great night, hit the decisive three to bring Virtus just one win from the big finale.

Beaubois on fire

Careful not to jinx, but probably the hottest player in the EuroChallenge in March is Cholet's guard Rodrigue Beaubois. The young French guard, born 1988, is one of the most intriguing prospects in Europe this season. A very athletic and long player, who improves his game day to day.  In the last three games he scored 18 points in each and every one of them, and also hardly missed shots. His field goal accuracy stands on 20 made shots in 27 attempts, including 12 hits from long range in 17 shots. Add on that a 1.5 assists/turnovers ratio. Cholet is just three wins short of the title, and if the young talent from Guadeloupe will continue his streak of great games, his team will move closer than ever to a historical European title.

The Bad News

Greene became transparent

One of the main reasons MyGuide Amsterdam is in the Quarter Final Round is the great season US point guard Orien Greene displayed, especially in the Top 16. In the previous phase he averaged 18.6 points per game on great accuracy with just 2.3 turnovers per game. On Tuesday night in Limassol Greene didn't find his game, and finished with only two points on one out of ten field goal attempts in addition to no less than five turnovers. His team lost Game One by ten points, but with 2:30 to play the gap was just half of that. The fact the visitors were so close to steal a win, on such a bad day for Greene is good news for them, but the bad news is that in the Quarter-Finals there aren't many chances to fix mistakes. MyGuide will still have to win in Limassol if they want to make it to the Final Four, and being in a good position to win in such a tough home court don't happen often. In order to return to Cyprus for a second chance Shivek's gang need Greene in his Top 16 form.

Season low for Kyiv

t's tough and somehow unfair to judge BC Kyiv after the departure of half of the team, but the squad from Ukraine made it here after playing the second half of the Top 16 with the current roster, and is expected to compete. In Game One in Cholet they scored a season low of 52 points, and saw the locals out rebound them 48-29. Coach Obradovic's team played in slow-tempo throughout the entire season, especially in the key games, even when they were one big happy family. Nevertheless in order to force a decisive game in France, Kyiv will have to score more than 52 and contain the quick and very creative backcourt of Cholet, Kevin Braswell, Nando De Colo and Rodrigue Beaubois. The last two combined for 34 points - exactly half of their team's total. In Game Two Kyiv needs to stop them.