EUROCUP - Barons squeeze past Iscar

NAHARIYA (EuroCup) - Barons LMT edged into the qualifying round of the EuroCup by a point, despite an 83-80 defeat at Iscar Nahariya.

After an 81-77 win in Latvia last week, Barons were cruising when they led 28-13 in Israel before Matan Naor sparked an Iscar comeback.

Raimonds Vaikulis missed two free-throws in the last minute for the hosts as Barons rode their luck to qualify.

Spartak St Petersburg managed to overcome a three-point home defeat, beating Maroussi 84-75 in Greece.

Maroussi had led by 11 points on aggregate with a little over nine minutes remaining in the final quarter but Milovan Rakovic scored 31 points to see the Russians through.

PAOK BC progressed after a 71-65 win at U-Mobitelco to go through by 11 points on aggregate, while Khimik thrashed KK Igokea Partizan 99-69, overturning a 22-point deficit.

Banvit BC beat KR Basket 95-83 to ease through by 29 points and CSK-VVS Samara beat Plannja Basket 84-70 to secure their place in the next round.

Keravnos Nicosia beat Lappeenranta 95-86 but it was not enough to overturn the 16 point gap from the first leg.

Proteas EKA AEL demolished BC Dnipro 104-69 to add to their 11-point advantage from the first leg while Cherkaski Mavpy overcame a 16-point gap from the first leg, beating Apoel Nicosia 104-83.

Ural Great strolled through by 31 points after a 77-60 win over Olympias Patras, Lokomotiv Rostov won 87-69 against BC Sturmica 2005 to ease through, as did Dexia Mons-Hainaut who were 88-62 winners against My Guide Amsterdam.

Olympia's narrow 83-82 win over Zlatorog was enough to see them through by nine points, KK Zagreb beat BCM Gravelines 100-88 to go through, along with Cholet Basket who beat AEK 78-55 and Tartu Rock won 76-72 at BK Prostejov to progress.

FIBA