Reyer Venezia, Mornar Bar celebrate home wins; all level between Juventus and Avellino

VENICE (FIBA Europe Cup) - Umana Reyer Venezia and Mornar Bar started their Quarter-Final campaigns on the right track and claimed home wins on Wednesday, while Sidigas Scandone Avellino and Juventus Utena parted ways with the scores all tied after the first leg in Lithuania.

The only team to gain a double-figure advantage, Reyer Venezia buried Nizhny Novgorod with a barrage of three-pointers en route to an 86-76 victory at the Palasport Teliercio, with Hrvoje Peric and Austin Daye combining for 49 points.

Peric collected a team-high 26 points in under 20 minutes, Daye chipped in with 23 points in 22 minutes of action, while point guard MarQuez Haynes ran the show to perfection with 10 points and 9 assists next to his name.

For Nizhny Novgorod, a 28-point and 12-rebound double-double by Stevan Jelovac helped to keep things as close as possible. Dmitrii Uzinskii and Ivan Strebkov added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Meanwhile in Montenegro, a fourth-quarter dash saw Mornar Bar come away with a 73-67 win against Donar Groningen in front of their own fans at the Topolica Sports Hall, which will give them a 6-point cushion for the return fixture in the Netherlands.

Derek Needham paced the winners with a game-high 20 points, but went just 7-of-22 from the field. Strahinja Micovic added 12 points, while Radoje Vujosevic registered the third-best rebounding mark in the FIBA Europe Cup this season, collecting 16 boards to go with his 10 points.

Drago Pasalic had 15 points and 6 rebounds for Donar, Bradford Burgess added 11 points with no other Groningen player reaching double figures.

Elsewhere, Sidigas Scandone Avellino could not get separation against an injury-struck Juventus Utena side, drawing the first leg of the tie 77-77 in Lithuania in a repeat of the Round of 16 scenario against Tsmoki-Minsk, when the Stefano Sacripanti-coached Italian side also finished the first game level.

Despite playing without the sidelined point guard Anthony Ireland, the home side enjoyed more of the lead but saw their edge fade away after the game's leading scorer Kenny Gaines also had to leave the floor with an injury in the fourth quarter.

In a repeat of the Round of 16 scenario, @ScandoneBasket draw the first leg of the #FIBAEuropeCup Quarter-Finals. pic.twitter.com/BoovfRQGSy

— FIBA Europe Cup (@FIBAEuropeCup) March 21, 2018

Having gone 7-of-13 from the field, Gaines finished with 18 points, while the front-court duo of Maksym Korniienko and Mindaugas Kupsas scored 15 points apiece and combined for 18 rebounds.

Dez Wells had a team-high 17 points for Avellino, as the Italian side's man-in-the-middle Kyrylo Fesenko had 15 points and 6 boards.

In the only Quarter-Final game played on Tuesday, Bakken Bears inscribed a 76-62 victory over ESSM Le Portel at home in Denmark, which sets them up nicely for the return leg in France.

FIBA