A battle between two EuroCup sides saw Ukrainian champions Azovmash suffer their second defeat of the Superliga campaign on Saturday after falling to a 96-88 loss against Khimik in Yuzhny.

Khimik gained a 50-40 edge early in the third quarter but Azovmash managed to come back into the reckoning as the period progressed.

The game was close until the middle of the fourth quarter when the hosts strung together a run of unanswered scores to secure Khimik's first win over Azovmash since April 2005 and erase some of the pain of their recent EuroCup elimination.

Khimik crashed out of the EuroCup at the end of November, but restored some pride with a midweek win against Dynamo Moscow Region to improve their record to 2-3.

United States international Cedric Henderson was the Yuzhny-based side's star performer against Azovmash, scoring 22 points, while Aleksandar Djuric poured in 19.

"I'm satisfied with the fact that five of our players scored more than 10 points tonight," said Khimik coach Zvezdan Mitrovic.

"We received a great boost after beating Dynamo Moscow Region. It's a pity that we lost our chances to stay in the EuroCup."

Khalid El-Amin scored 23 points for Azovmash while Panagiotis Liadelis made 16.

"This game was vital for Khimik so they did their best to win it," said Azovmash coach Rimas Girskis.

"Khimik played very well but my team was poor in defense. We let the rival team score 96 points - this is unacceptable for us."

Azovmash continue their EuroCup Group C campaign against Atomeromu in Mariupol on Tuesday, while Khimik face Group B's bottom club Barons in Riga.