Neptunas, Tsmoki-Minsk to battle it out in Qualifiers Group D Final

BOTEVGRAD (Bulgaria) - Tsmoki Minsk and Neptunas Klaipeda will do battle on Thursday for the spot in the 2020-21 edition of the Basketball Champions League that is reserved for the winner of Group D in the Qualifiers.

In the Semi-Finals on Tuesday, the Belarus champions prevailed 73-65 over group hosts Balkan Botevgrad, while Neptunas managed to fend off newcomers London Lions and clinch a 77-73 victory.

Neptunas Klaipeda 77-73 London Lions

Neptunas held off a tenacious London Lions 77-73 in a nail-biting finale to secure a spot in the Final of Group D and maintain intact their chances of playing in the Basketball Champions League for a fifth consecutive season.

The Lithuanian side led for most of the game but in effect neither team ever managed to gain a meaningful lead and Lions, despite appearing in their first ever European contest in club history, came within a whiff of pulling off a memorable upset.

The Lions jumped ahead 63-58 midway through the final frame but neptunas reacted swiftly and Klaidas Metrikis drilled a triple right at the 3-minute mark and followed up with two free-throws on the next possession to give Neptunas a 71-65 lead with 2:39 remaining to play.

The London side still had enough gas in the tank for a final charge and Dirk Williams knocked down a three to tie the scores at 73 with 44 seconds left on the clock.

Neptunas called a timeout and when play resumed Norbertas Giga came up with arguably the decisive play as he grabbed the rebound off a Zygimantas Janavicius miss, drew the foul and made both of his free-throws to give the Lithuanian side a 75-73 lead17 seconds from time.

Giga and Dziugas Slavinskas scored 15 points each to lead the way for Neptunas, with the former also adding 14 rebounds to complete a double-double. For the Lions, Matthew Bryan-Amaning had a game-high 16 points and 9 rebounds for a near double-double in a losing effort.

Tsmoki-Minsk 73-65 Balkan Botevgrad

Tsmoki-Minsk used an 18-6 third-quarter run to pull away from Balkan Botevgrad and held off a late rally to clinch a 73-65 win over the group hosts and secure spot in Thursday's Qualifiers Group D final.

Aliaksei Trastsinetski knocked down a jumper to cap off Minsk's third-quarter spurt and lift the Belarusian team to their biggest lead of the night, 50-36 with 3:20 left in the third period.

Balkan still had enough gas left in the tank for a last charge and reduced the deficit to just one point, 59-58, shortly after the 4-minute mark of the final stanza.

On the next possession though Rob Lowery however sunk a jumper that sparked a 9-0 Minsk run and out the game beyond the Bulgarian team's reach.

Kris Clyburn led all Minsk scorers with 19 points and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists while Maksim Salash posted a double-double of 14 points and 10 boards and Vladimir Veremeenko had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Balkan's Tajuan Agee finished with 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting from the floor in a losing effort.