Spirou stays in the hunt for the Last 32

Proximus Spirou Charleroi hit 14 three-pointers and kept alive its chances to advance to the Last 32 by downing Baloncesto Seville 82-72 on Wednesday. Spirou improved to 2-5, and also holds a tiebreaker over Seville because it overcame a 5-point loss against the same opponent in Round 2. Seville, on the other hand, drops to 3-4 in Group C. The hosts took the lead for good at the end of the first half, and extended the margin to double digits in the third behind three-pointers from Dylan Page. Seville got within 5 points, and fought for the tie-break margin, but Spirou prevailed. Page had 20 points on 6-for-9 from three-points. William Hatcher scored 14, Eric Wise had 13, Zabian Dowdell finished with 10 points, 6 assists and 4 steals, and Andre Collins also scored 10 in victory. Alex Urtasun finished with 14 points for the visitors, Berni Rodriguez had 12, and Derrick Byars 11 points in defeat.

Hatcher made a pair of baskets, including a triple, and Wise scored 4 points for 11-4 early lead. Rodriguez got the visitors going with a three-pointer, and a put-back from Kristaps Porzingis cut it to 15-13. But Page and Lioc Schwartz hit triples before the end of the first quarter to make it 21-15, before more threes from Page and Wise early in the second extended it to 28-21. But Seville did not allow another basket for almost 4 minutes, as Urtasun, Xavier Thames and Guillermo Hernangomez sparked a run, which also had Byars score a triple and followed it with a basket-plus-foul, helping the visitors to their first lead, 33-36. Spirou promptly snapped a 5-15 spurt, as Wen Boss Mukubu and Page fought to pull down offensive boards that led Spirou to 38-36 halftime lead.

Page nailed two three-point shots early in the third, and Schwartz hit one of his, as Spirou’s lead reached 49-39. Urtasun knocked down a pair from long range for Seville, but Page made his fifth of the night, and Wise helped the hosts extend it to 58-45. A basket-plus-free throw from Pierre Oriola and a three-pointer from Byars helped Seville get to 65-56 after 30 minutes, before a triple from Thames and a layup from Porzingis closed within 66-61. But Spirou did not allow the visitors any closer, as Page nailed his sixth and Collins his first for 72-63. Rodriguez scored from downtown for Seville, and Urtasun strung together a layup-plus-foul and a triple for 79-72. But neither team scored a single point in the final three and a half minutes of the game, other that Dowdell sinking a three-pointer in the final minute to seal the outcome.