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Domestic League Champions 2006-07 |
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German League champion: Brose Baskets Bamberg
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Brose Baskets Bamberg are the German League champions. Brose Baskets held off a furious late charge from Artland Dragons for a series clinching 63-64 victory in Game 4 of the best-of-five finals series on Tuesday night at Artland Arena. The title is the club's second in three years and will see them return to the Euroleague next season. Robert Garrett came off the bench for 16 points in 18 minutes and Zelly Wesson was big inside with 10 points and 9 rebounds to lead Bamberg to the title. Casey Jacobsen, who was selected as series MVP, had a rough shooting night in Game 4, but still finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists to help Brose Baskets regain the title. Adam Hess scored 21 points and Bryan Bailey 15 for Artland in defeat. MORE |
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Spanish League champion: Real Madrid
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ULEB Cup champion Real Madrid is now the Spanish League champion, too, after dominating on the floor of archrival Winterthur F.C. Barcelona 71-82 on Sunday to take their best-of-five final series 3-1. Madrid dominated the backboards once again in Game 4 and followed the scoring of big man Felipe Reyes, who was chosen the finals MVP, to the title. Reyes hit 10 of 14 two-point shots and finished with 21 points. Kereme Tunceri buried 5 of 8 three-pointers for 15 points. Louis Bullock added 12 points for the winners, Raul Lopez and Charles Smith 10 each. Madrid's defense put the breaks on Barcelona scorer Juan Carlos Navarro, who had just 5 points. Jaka Lakovic led Barcelona with 15 points, 5 assists and 3 steals. Michalis Kakiouzis was the only other double-figure scorer for the hosts, with 11 points. The victory ended a remarkable season in which Madrid took the ULEB Cup and Spanish League while making the Spanish King's Cup final under rookie head coach Joan Plaza. It was Madrid's second domestic crown in three years and 30th overall. MORE |
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Serbian League champion: Partizan Belgrade
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Partizan Belgrade won its sixth consecutive Serbian-League crown on Sunday after beating rival Crvena Zvezda 67-84 in Game 4 of the teams' best-of-five finals series. The victory marks Partizan's 14th domestic championship dating back to the days of the old Yugoslavian League. Veteran big man Predrag Drobnjak was the hero after sealing the victory with a crucial three-pointer with 4 minutes to go. He finished as Partizan's top scorer with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Kosta Perovic added 12 points and 9 rebounds, Vonteego Cummings 11 and Milenko Tepic 10. C. Zvezda got 20 from Milan Gurovic, while Tadija Dragicevic scored 13 and Nemanja Aleksandrov finished the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds. MORE |
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Greek League champion: Panathinaikos
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Panathinaikos has won its fifth straight domestic title and first-ever triple crown - the Greek League, Greek Cup and Euroleague titles - in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, downing archrival Olympiacos 89-76 in do-or-die fifth Game 5 of their playoff final series at home in OAKA arena. Panathinaikos claimed a 3-2 series victory as each team won all its home games. The Greens now have won nine Greek League titles in the last decade and 28th overall. Mike Batiste paced the Greens with 15 points, while Ramunas Siskauskas added 13 and Dimitrios Papanikolaou 12. Dimitris Diamantidis had 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals for the Greens. For Olympiacos, who led 45-46 at halftime, Andrija Zizic and Alex Acker scored 12 each. Panathinaikos broke open an otherwise balanced game in the third quarter, as Fragiskos Alvertis and an outstanding Siskauskas gave the Greens a 68-57 lead after 30 minutes. Olympiacos got within 77-72 with less than 3 minutes to go, but a critical triple by Siskauskas and good accuracy from the free throw line allowed Panathinaikos to end up winning it all this season! MORE |
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Italian League champion: Montepaschi Siena
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Montepaschi Siena is once again the Italian League champion! Montepaschi won its second Italian League title by sweeping the best-of-five finals against VidiVici Bologna. Montepaschi capped an incredible domestic season by topping VidiVici 90-82 in Siena in game 3 on Sunday. Terrell McIntyre paced the winners with 22 points on 4-of-6 triples and 8-of-9 free throws. Joseph Forte added 21 points, Rimantas Kaukenas had 18, including a critical four-point play down the stretch, while Romain Sato posted a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds for the new Italian League champion. Andrea Crosariol led Virtus with 21 points on 9-of-10 two-pointers. Guilherme Giovannoni added 13, Vlado Ilievski 11 and Dusan Vukcevic 10. Montepaschi won its first league title in 2004 and is now back atop in a historical season that comes with a ticket for the 2007-08 Euroleague. MORE |
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Croatian League champion: Cibona Zagreb
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Cibona is once again the Croatian League champion! Cibona won its second consecutive Croatian League title and its 14th since the competition was created in the 1991-92 season - every edition but 2003 and 2005 - by simply overwhelming Zadar 100-62 in make-or-break Game 5 on Sunday to win the best-of-five finals 3-2. Davor Kus led the winners with 18 points and 6 assists. Chris Warren added 17 points, Andrew Wisniewski and Barisa Krasic each had 13, Brent Wright got 12 and Luksa Andric 11 for Cibona, that mad2 24-of-36 two-pointers and 15-of-26 triples tonight. Juby Johnson had 15 points for Zadar, Frano Colak 14, Todor Gecevski 12 and Carl English 11. Cibona used a 19-0 run early in the game to break it open, 21-4, and then kept a double-digit margin all the way in the first half. Cibona soon boosted its margin to 66-38 late in the third quarter to cruise to a well-deserved win that allowed the club to claim yet another Croatian League title! MORE |
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Belgian League champion: Telindus Oostende
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 Telindus Oostende took the high road to its second consecutive Belgian League title with a resounding 100-77 home win against visiting Euphony Bree in the fifth and last game of their finals series on Sunday. Oostende made no doubt about it while racing to a 10-0 lead after tipoff that ballooned to 30-18 at the end of a quarter. As if that were not enough, Oostende kept rolling ahead by 62-37 at halftime and then played Bree even the rest of the way to sail to victory. Veselin Petrovic led the winners with 22 points. Sam Van Rossom, who had missed Game 4 of the series with an injury, came back to collect 17 points and 5 assists. Then came Elvir Ovcina with 15 points and 8 rebounds, Rashad Wright with 14 points and Eric Hicks with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. For Bree, Ben Ebong had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Jeff Horner had 15 and 9, respectively. Jim Cantamessa added 12 points and Kevin Tolbert 11. The marked the 12th time that Oostende has won the Belgian League since 1981. MORE |
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Slovenian League champion: Helios Domzale
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 Helios Domzale is the Slovenian League champion! Helios managed to lift its first-ever Slovenian League trophy by downing injury-plagued Union Olimpija 82-65 in make-or-break Game 5 in Domzale on Sunday. As such. Helios won the series 3-2 amd rewrote Slovenian basketball history. Former Olimpija center Smiljan Pavic led the winners with 17 points. Dario Krejic added 15, Aleksej Laskevic had 14 while Ziga Zagorc got 10 for Helios. Slavko Duscak had 21 points for Olimpija, that played without Domen Lorbek, Teemu Rannikko and Manu Markoishvili. Marko Rakocevic added 14 while Sandi Cebular had 12 for the guests. Helios opened the game with a 11-4 run that Robert Troha capped with a triple, while Aljaz Janza also stroke from downtown for a 23-17 lead after 10 minutes. Pavic and Laskevic helped Helios to stay ahead, 45-37, at halftime. Olimpija collapsed after the break, while Helios broke the game open with an 11-0 run that made it a 19-point game, 56-37. Olimpija never recovered, allowing a sellout crowd in Domzale to celebrate that Helios is the new Slovenian League champion! MORE |
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Czech League champion: CEZ Basketball Nymburk
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CEZ Basketball Nymburk is once again the Czech League champion! Nymburk conquered its foruth consecutive Czech League title by downing BK Prostejov 98-74 in Game 3 of the best-of-five finals. Nymburk swept the series and confirmed it is the team to beat in Czech basketball. Radoslav Rancik led the winners with 24 points, Darius Washington added 14 while Ladislav Sokolovsky and Goran Savanovic had 12 apiece for Nymburk. Marek Stuchly had 14 points for Prostejov while Radek Necas added 13. Nymburk left no doubt about its power since the early going, leading 27-19 after 10 minutes and boosting its margin up to 49-34 at halftime. Prostejov never recovered, as Nymburk kept rolling until the final buzzer, when all its fans celebratd yet another Czech League title. A plus ZS Brno BC finished third by downing BK Decin 62-72 in Game 2, enough to sweep the best-of-three third place playoff. MORE |
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Austrian League champion: Allianz Swans Gmunden
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 Allianz Swans Gmunden is one again the Austrian League champion! Gmunden won its third consecutive Austrian League title when it overwhelmed Macabido Gunners Oberwart 88-70 at home in Gmunden on Sunday. Deteri Mayes was again unstoppable for the winners, scoring 29 points. Blake Hamilton followed him with 13 points, while Ian Boylan added 12 and Peter Hutter 11. Gunners got 19 points from Armond Williams. Swans rolle dup 29 points in the first quarter, but Gunners was scoring, too, and the first half ended 49-47 in favor of the hosts. Swans put it all together after the break, using stronger defense to win the third quarter 25-13, taking a 74-60 lead into the fourth and stopping Gunners the rest of the way. Three different players - Hamilton, Mayes and Boylan - also had at least 4 assists each for Swans, who also shot a healthy 85% at the free throw line. MORE |
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French League champion: Chorale Roanne
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 Chorale Roanne is the French League champion! Roanne won its second French League title, its first one since 1959, and earned the right to play the 2007-08 Euroleague by beating Sluc Basket Nancy 74-81 in the title game in front of 14,500 fans at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy on Saturday. As such, Roanne completed a dream season, as the team also won the Semaine Des As title, showing it was the best team in French basketball this year. Marc Salyers led the winners with 27 points and 8 rebounds. Dewarick Spencer had 13 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, Pape Badiane added 11 points and 12 rebounds while Aaron Harper also posted a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds for Roanne. Maxime Zianveni had 21 points for Nancy, Cyril Julian added 15 while Tariq Kirksay scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the regular season champion. Spencer had 7 points in a 2-12 final run that allowed Roanne to add a historical win! MORE |
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Turkish League champion: Fenerbahce Ulker
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For the second season in a row, Fenerbahce Ulker took the Turkish League title by sweeping archrivals Efes Pilsen 4-0 thanks to a resounding 76-98 victory in Game 4 of their best-of-seven series on Friday night. Mirsad Turkcan was the high scorer for Fenerbahce with 21 points, to which he added 12 rebounds for a double-double. Ibrahim Kutluay followed with 19 points, Omer Onan with 17 and Damir Mrsic with 15 points, all of his on three-point shots. Efes shot its 54% from the floor, its highest percentage of the series, and killed the hopes of Efes to get back in the series with a 4-23 second-quarter run. Triples by Onan and Kutluay shortly after the opening tipoff gave Fenerbahce a 2-11 lead, but Efes completed a comeback with a 9-0 run to a 27-22 advantage early in the second quarter. That, hwoever, is when Fenerbhce's killer run started with Eddie Basden hitting a three-pointer. Mrsic and Kutluay each hit 3 mmore from downtown before the first half ended 31-46. Fenerbahce finished the third quarter ahead by 53-68, and now came Turkcan's turn to make 3 triples in a row between the 34th and 36th minute, putting the game out of reach for Efes. The title was extra special for Fenerbahce as the club is celebrating its 100 anniversary. Fenerbahce's only previous Turkish League title came in 1991, when Kutluay was also with the club.MORE |
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Russian League champion: CSKA Moscow
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Showing the team play that has made it one of Europe's top teams all decade, CSKA Moscow is once again the Russian League champion! CSKA won its fifth consecutive Russian League crown, its 14th since the Russian League was created in 1992 and its 38th counting Soviet Union titles by sweeping its best-of-five title series against Unics Kazan by 3-0. CSKA edged Unics 71-78 in Kazan in Game 3 on Thursday, enough to finish yet another successful season in which the team also won the Russian Cup and made it to the Euroleague title game. Trajan Langdon led the winners with 19 points while hitting 4 of 9 three-point shots. David Andersen added 15 points while Matjaz Smodis had 13 for CSKA. Ksystof Lavrinovic had 20 points for Unics, his twin brother Darjus added 15. Jarod Stevenson put in an additional 12 points and Jerry McCullough 10 for the hosts. Unics had led at intervals throughout the game, but CSKA managed to keep a slim lead all the way through the final period until free throws by J.R. Holden and Smodis sealed the outcome. MORE |
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Israeli League champion: Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv
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 For the 37th time in 38 years - but no doubt one of the most dramatic of all - Maccabi Tel Aviv is the champion of the Isreali League after rallying in the last 90 seconds to defeat archrival Hapoel Jerusalem 78-80 in their single-game final on Thursday night. Playing on its home court, Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv, Maccabi trailed the entire game and was still down by 5 points, 77-72, with just over a minute to play. Tal Burstein's three-pointer and a layup by Will Bynum quickly tied it. After Mario Austin of Hapoel made 1 of 2 free throws, the clock ticked down almost to the buzzer before Jamie Arnold corrected a Burstein miss with the go-ahead inside basket, was fouled and hit the free throw, all with 2.2 seconds left. It was Maccabi's first lead all night, and when Burstein made a steal on Hapoel's last possession, it was good enough for his team's 48th domestic title. Bynum paced Maccabi with 18 points. Burstien followed with 15, Nikola Vujcic with 13, Sharon Shason with 11 and Arnold with 10. Vujcic had 10 rebounds, too. Mario Austin led Hapoel with 16 points and 9 rebounds, Mier Tapiro scored 14 and Horace Jenkins had 13 points. Earlier, Galil Elyon won the game for third place 90-80 over Bnei Hasharon. Jason Williams led Bnei with 31 points while Tre Simmons was top scorer for the winners with 29 points. MORE |
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Polish League champion: Prokom Trefl Sopot
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 Prokom Trefl aced its fourth straight Polish League title in fine fashion on Thursday by shutting down Turow 68-56 at home in Sopot to win their best-of-seven final series by 4-1. Game 5 was no easier than the previous victories by Prokom, two of which came by 3 points or fewer. This time, the champs nursed small leads into the final quarter, when their dominance on the boards proved too much for Turow to overcome. Donatas Slanina was the big gun on offense for Prokom, pouring in 24 points, including 4 of 9 three-point shots. He was named MVP of the finals. Chrisitian Dalmau was Prokom's other double-digit scorer, with 18 points, but the real story was on defense and the backboards, where the hosts pulled 40 rebounds to just 25 for Turow. Michael Andersen had 8 of those, Jasmin Hukic 7 and Huseyin Besok 6. Dalmau had 5 of Prokom's 14 steals. For Turow, only Thomas Kelati with 17 points and Lance Williams with 10 could do much damage. Prokom led 14-12 after a quarter, 28-25 at the half and 48-42 after 30 minutes, but controlled the scoreboard the rest of the way to the highest lead of the night and a new trophy to raise!. MORE |
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Swiss League champion: Benetton Fribourg Olympic
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 Olympic Fribourg is the first team ever in Switzerland to lift three trophies in the same season after it won Game 4 of the Swiss League finals 69-79 over Lugano on Wednesday. Fribourg won the series 3-1 for its second consecutive title, sixth in the last 11 seasons and 14th overall Swiss League title. Lugano has won three others in the last decade. David Esterkamp was the main contributor for the winners with 18 points. Tresore Quidome and Lorenzo Orr added 16 each while Harold Mrazek bagged 12. Edwin Draughan led Lugano with 20 points and Andrija Crnogorac had 17. The guests from Fribourg took a slim 17-19 margin at the end of the first quarter, but the Tigers followed Draughan's scoring to a 37-33 halftime advantage. Early in the last quarter, Olympic went ahead 52-54 and never looked back thanks to a timely performance by Pascal Perrier-David. As such, Fribourg became the first team to win the Swiss Cup, the League Cup and the league title in the same season. MORE |
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Portugal League champion: Ovarense Aerosoles
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 Ovarense Aerosoles is the Portuguese League champion! Ovarense lifted its second consecutive Portuguese League trophy by downing FC Porto Ferpinta 75-68 in do-or-die Game 7 to win the best-of-seven title game series 4-3. Ben Reed led the winners with 29 points on 7-of-8 three-pointers. Gregory Stempin posted a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds, Shawn Jackson grabbed 11 rebounds while Elvis Evora pulled down 10 for Ovarense, that outrebounded its opponents by 45-30. Julian Blanks had 19 points for Porto while John Whorton added 16. Ovarense led throughout the first quarter by free throws by Blanks brought Porto within 22-21. Once again Blanks helped Porto to tie the game, 31-31, at halftime. Reed led a 9-2 run that gave Ovarense a 56-48, but the ever-present Blanks got Porto within 56-53 after three quarters. The game went down to the wire, as a free throw by Larry Jon Smith tied it at 68-68 with 2 minutes to go. Reed hit a critical triple while back-to-back baskets by Evora helped Ovarense to win the Portuguese League title!. MORE |
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Lithuanian League champion: Zalgiris Kaunas
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Zalgiris Kaunas is champion of Lithuania once again after downing archrival Lietuvos Rytas 77-81 in Game 6 of their playoff finals series on the road Tuesday in Vilnius. Zalgiris won the best-of-seven series 4-2. Shooting ace Marcelinho Machado was the last-minute hero for Zalgiris, hitting the go-ahead three-pointer that made it 75-77 with 34 seconds to play, then making 2 of 2 free throws with 11 seconds left to seal the outcome. The victory gave Zalgiris its 22nd Lithuanian national title and 14th since the country became independent again in 1991. Mid-season acquisition Loren Woods paced Zalgiris in Game 6 with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Tanoka Beard had double-double, too, with 13 points and 12 boards, while Machado finished with 14 points and Marko Popovic 11. DeJuan Collins dished 7 assists for the winners. Kareem Rush had 17 points, Joao Paolo Batista 14 and Roberts Stelmahers 10 for L. Rytas, the defending domestic champion and ULEB Cup runner-up this season. MORE |
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Latvian League champion: ASK Riga
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ASK Riga are the new Latvian League champions after beating BK Ventspils 91-77 at home in Game 6 on Sunday. ASK, the first great team of Latvian basketball with won three consecutive European crowns in 1958, '59 and '60, put the boot to the Ventpils dynasty. Ventsils had won the Latvian League every season since 1999. Raimonds Gabrans gave a slim 22-24 cushion to Ventspils at the end of the first quarter, but early in the second the hosts used an 8-0 spurt to take a 30-24 lead. Ventspils regained the lead, but a triple from Steponas Babrauskas allowed Riga to lead 41-39 at halftime. The hosts got their first double-digit cushion, 61-51, through Martynas Andriukaitis with 2:19 left in the third quarter to finish it in front 65-54. The last 10 minutes saw ASK nurse a safe margin as the advantage rose to 82-64 with 2 minutes left. Babrauskas hit from mid range to seal the scoring at 91-77 as the hosts celebrated a monumental win. Babrauskas led the way with 17 points, Curtis Millage had 16, Torraye Braggs posted 15 points and 7 rebounds, Raitis Grafs 13 points and Sandis Buskevics 12 points and 6 assists. Raimonds Vaikulis led Ventspils with 15, Dusan Jelic added 10 and Eddie Shannon posted 10 points and 5 assists. MORE |
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Bulgarian League champion: Lukoil Academic
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Lukoil Academic is once again the Bulgarian League champion! Lukoil swept the best-of-five title series by edging CSKA Sofia 97-99 in double overtime in Game 3 on Friday and clinched its fifth consecutive Bulgarian League title. Lamont Jones paced the winners with 26 points. Gjorgji Cekovski added 20 while Donta Smith posted a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds for Lukoil. Carlos Cherry had 22 points for CSKA. Free throws by Anguelov sent the game to overtime, 71-71. Cherry hit a six-meter shot, fed Anguelov for a triple and made free throws to give CSKA a 81-75 lead, but Jones singlehandedly led a 1-6 run that he capped with a driving basket that allowed Lukoil to force another overtime, 82-82. Back-to-back triples by Cherry seemed to break the game open, 91-85, but he fouled out and CSKA lost its momentum. Meanwhile, Jones and free throws by Smith and Georgi Davidov allowed Lukoil to get a 96-99 edge. Lukoil fouled on Dimitri Mirakovski with 4 seconds remaining, and he missed the second shot on purpose. Dimitar Anguelov missed the game-winning shot at the buzzer. MORE |
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Dutch League champion: EiffelTowers Den Bosch
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EiffelTowers Den Bosch conquered its second consecutive Dutch League title on Thursday by beating Matrixx Magixx Nijmegen 78-88 on the road to sweep the best-of-seven series 4-0. Sam Jones led the way way for the champs by scoring 17 points, Leon Rodgers had 15 points and 8 rebounds, Robert Owens 13, while Sharone Wright amassed 10 points and 10 rebounds. Chris Carrawell tallied 31 points and 10 rebounds for Nijmegen. EiffelTowers built a 16-21 cushion at the end of the first quarter, but Matrixx Magixx led 61-59 heading into the fourth quarter. But EiffelTowers was the more motivated team in the final 10 minutes and outscored Nijmegen by 12 to start the celebrations. MORE |
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British League champion: Poujoulat Heat Guildford
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Poujoulat Heat Guildford beat London United 114-85 on Sunday to win its first ever British Basketball League championship! In a close race that wasn't decided until the final day of the season, Guildford outlasted Sheffield Sharks with a 29-7 record. The result gave the Heat a second title this year after winning the BBL Cup. On Sunday, captain Mike Martin rose to the occasion with 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead Guildford. The season will finish with the British Championship playoffs, even the regular season winner is widely regarded as the British champion, no matter what happens in the next stage, with a Final Eight format. Sheffield was in the driver's seat heading into the last weekend of the season, but a 94-89 loss at defending champs Springfield Honda Newcastle Eagles on Friday derailed their title hopes. MORE |
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Baltic League champion: Lietuvos Rytas
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Lietuvos Rytas successfully defended its Baltic League title with a 77-81 win over rival Zalgiris Kaunas in the championship game on Saturday at the Baltic League Final Four in Riga, Latvia. Kareem Rush scored 22 points as his teamed pulled away early and coasted until the final minutes. Zalgiris stormed back to make a game out of it in the fourth quarter, but L. Rytas held steady and made the crucial free throws down the stretch to ice the win and title. Just weeks after losing to Real Madrid in the ULEB Cup Final in Charleroi, the title gave L. Rytas something to celebrate. Zalgiris and L. Rytas have both qualified already for the Lithuanian League semifinals and could meet again there in what would surely be a hotly contested series. Uvis Helmanis scored 19 to lead Ventspils over Siauliai 94-88 in the third-place game. MORE |
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Adriatic League champion: Partizan Belgrade
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Partizan Belgrade is the Adriatic League champion! Partizan swept domestic rival FMP 2-0 in the best-of-three finals series on Wednesday night with a 94-82 home win. Uros Tripkovic led six Partizan scorers in double figures with 19 points as his club finally took the title after reaching the final in each of the past two seasons. Partizan won Game 1 earlier in the week 82-84. Tripkovic heated up early as Partizan took a 27-17 advantage after 10 minutes. The youngsters from FMP never gave in and cut the gap to 43-39 at halftime. FMP went ahead briefly, 55-56, on a Dragan Labovic basket late in the third quarter, but Milenko Tepic struck back quickly with a triples and a jumper and Partizan coasted through the fourth quarter for a big win. Nikola Pekovic finished with 13 for Partizan, Dusan Kecman added 12, Vonteego Cummings had 11 points and 4 assists and Luka Bogdanovic and Predrag Drobnjak 10 each. Zoran Erceg led FMP with 19 points and 7 rebounds, Milos Teodosic had 13, Branko Cvetkovic 11 points and 5 steals and Labovic finished with 10 points in defeat. The two Serbian powers will still face off at least two more times this season in their domestic league. MORE |
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Friday, May 18, 2007
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Euroleague.net |
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