A pair of huge takeover runs proved the difference on Tuesday as two teams took nine-point leads after he opening games of their Qualifying Round 2 series, effectively putting one foot each in the upcoming Euroleague Regular Season. The shocker was visiting Entente Orleanaise bowling past Benetton 73-82. Cedrick Banks poured in 6 three-pointers to lead Orleans, which made 13 of 29 from downtown, with 22 points. Cartier Martin had 23 for Benetton Orleans took over what was a tie game after one quarter at the three-point arc, blasting 5 shots from downtown, all but one launched by Banks, in a massive 6-27 second quarter that left Benetton and its home fans stunned at the sight of a 26-47 halftime scoreboard. Benetton worked the second half to trim the difference to single digits at the finish, but now must travel to Orleans and win by 10 or lose out on the Euroleague this season. Amazingly, it had been almost exactly 50 years since those two teams last met, on October 4, 1959, and Benetton won that game - by 10. In Tuesday's other series opener, Maroussi Costa Coffee beat Alba Berlin 79-70 at home in Athens. Maroussi was down 11 points, 26-37, with a minute left in the second quarter, but made a 32-11 run over the next 10 minutes to change that game. Dimitris Mavroeidis paced Maroussi with 19 points while Kostas Kaimakoglou added 16. Alba got 14 points and 9 rebounds from Blagota Sekulic, who had played two seasons previously for Maroussi. The two-game series will be decided later in the week, with the aggregate score winners of each heading straight to the 2009-10 Euroleague Regular Season! Orleans will host Benetton in their do-or-die finale on Friday at 20:30 CET. Two days later, Alba hosts Maroussi in Berlin at 17:00 CET to complete the field of 24 Euroleague Regular Season teams for 2009-10!

Benetton Basket Entente Orleans Maroussi BC Alba Berlin Le Mans Alba Berlin

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