Azovmash have one foot in the EuroCup Final Four after destroying DTL EKA AEL Lemesos in the opening game of their quarter-final tie on Tuesday in Mariupol.

The defending champions of Ukraine were knotted at 34-34 at half-time but blew away their opponents the rest of the way in securing an 88-63 triumph.

Azovmash will attempt to complete a two-game sweep of the best-of-three series in Cyprus on Friday.

Lemesos were right in the game at the break after getting a spark on offense from Ryan Randle, who had a pair of dunks on his way to 11 first-half points.

Azovmash guard Khalid El-Amin poured in eight of his 15 points in the opening half as well, including a jump shot to make it 32-28 for the hosts with 4:06 still to play in the second quarter.

Both sides then went cold, with Lemesos missing four of six shots from the stripe before tying the game with 20 minutes gone.

Rimas Girskis men emerged from the changing room with re-charged batteries and reeled off seven consecutive points at the start of the second half, including Amin s two free throws, a three-pointer from Slaven Rimac and a jumper from Andriy Botichev.

Michal Hlebowicki s jumper for Lemesos temporarily stopped the bleeding to make it 41-36 in favour of Azovmash.

Panagiotis Liadellis then poured in eight of his 15 points as the home team stretched their advantage to 48-36 to leave the visitors trouble.

Kenan Bajramovic s jumper made a 56-41 with less than a minute to play in the third quarter, and Azovmash kept the pressure on at the start of the fourth, with a Bavjramovic dunk, a Serhiy Lishchuk jumper and an El-Amin three-ball stretching the lead to 63-43.

The spurt effectively killed off Lemesos.

Azovmash helped their cause at the free throw line, making 25 of 29 (86.2%) for the contest while Lemesos were just 17 of 27 (62.9%).

Where Lemesos really suffered was their long-range shooting.

Igors Miglinieks team made just two of 19 (10.%) from the arc.

Joining El-Amin and Liadellis with 15 points was Bosnia-Herzegovina international Bajramovic, while Randle finished with a game-high 18 in defeat.