On the ninth game, results for Group C were surprising. Montespaschi, having already won first place in the group, did not let up in Sofia. Telindus, long since buried by many, nonetheless easily clinched a win against Jerusalem. Alba, unfortunately, discontinued its defeats in the European arena.

BC Khimki’s Coach, Sergey ELEVICH recognized that, despite the game results, they played a satisfactory offensive, forcing fouls from the opponent. The free throws, however, left much to be desired. In fact, having lost two players for personal reasons, Alba saved up energy for the overtime.

Playmaker, Melvin BOOKER agreed with the coach’s point of view, and recognized that the adversary fought blood, sweat, and tears on court in the paint, which free throws aside, defined the course of the match. He added:

 At the end of regulation time, we had made some fouls from the line (with a couple of seconds on the clock for the siren to blow, Wolkowiski scored one of two attempts). Coming up we play a home court game against Academic, and losing is not an option.

Game 9 Standings

Group C

Alba (Berlin, Germany) vs. BC Khimki (Moscow Region, Russia): 90-83 ОТ (22-10, 25-23, 12-23, 18-21, 13-6)

Academic (Sofia, Bulgaria) vs. Montepaschi (Siena, Italy): 76-81 (18-17, 14-22, 28-16, 16-26)

Telindus (Oostende, Belgium) vs. Hapoel (Jerusalem, Israel): 77-61 (11-12, 28-18, 17-19, 21-12)

Team	Wins	Losses	Pts+/Pts-	Total Pts.	P
Montepaschi	7	2	735/686	+ 49	16
Hapoel J.	4	5	726/714	+ 12	13
BC Khimki	4	5	765/758	+ 7	13
Academic	4	5	649/682	– 33	13
Alba	4	5	677/675	2	13
Telindus	4	5	679/716	– 37	13

Group A

AEK (Athens, Greece) vs. SLUG Nancy (France): 76-85 (25-16, 24-26, 14-26, 13-17)
Group Dunas (Grand Canary, Spain) vs. Lietuvos Rytas (Vilnius, Lithuania): 72-67 (18-18, 21-16, 19-13, 14-20)
Hermofarm (Belgrade, Serbia) vs. Brose (Bamberg, Germany): 76-64 (17-19, 15-14, 21-18, 23-13)

Nancy: 6 victories/3 defeats, 15 points. Lietuvos Rytas: 6/3; 15. Hemofarm 6/3; 15. Group Dunas: 5/4; 14. AEK: 2/7; 11. Brose: 2/7; 11.

Group B

Anwil (Wloclawek, Poland) vs. Besiktas (Istanbul, Turkey): 74-62 (17-13, 18-25, 25-9, 14-15)
IG Strasbourg (France) vs. FMP Zeleznik (Belgrade, Serbia): 71-78 (13-16, 20-17, 20-18, 18-27)
Snaidero (Udine, Italy) vs. Ventspils (Latvia): 92-93 (20-26, 31-22, 17-22, 24-23)

FMP: 7/2; 16. Ventspils: 6/3; 15. Snaidero: 5/4; 14. Strasbourg: 4/5; 13. Anwil: 3/6; 12. Besiktas: 2/7; 11.

Group D

Crvena Zvezda (Belgrade, Serbia) vs. Dexia (Mons Hainaut, Belgium): 96-69 (32-11, 17-19, 24-24, 23-15)
PAOK (Salonika, Greece) vs. Eiffel Towers (Den Bosch, Holland): 90-88 (26-13, 16-32, 26-18, 22-25)
Real (Madrid, Spain) vs. UNICS (Kazan, Russia): 77-61 (11-12, 28-18, 17-19, 21-12)

Real: 6/3; 15. UNICS: 6/3; 15. Crvena Zvezda: 6/3; 15. PAOK: 6/3; 15. Eiffel Towers: 2/7; 11. Dexia: 1/8; 10.

Teams in bold obtained a place in the second round.