Diot’s buzzer-beater decides battle of former champions

Antoine Diot hit a three-pointer as time expired to lift Valencia Basket to a come-from-behind 78-77 win over visiting Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar on Wednesday night. It was the sixth straight win for Valencia, which took its record to 7-1 as it finished Group D in first place, while Lokomotiv placed fourth at 3-5. Valencia trailed by 11 points in the fourth quarter, but thanks to Diot, who scored all of his 11 points in the final 5:04 of the game, the clash went down to the wire. Mardy Collins’s three-point play gave the visitors a 75-77 edge with 5 seconds to go, but there was still plenty of time for Valencia to go full court and Diot to nail the game-winning shot. Bojan Dubljevic paced the hosts with 14 points, while Rafa Martinez, Pierre Oriola and Joan Sastre had 10 apiece in victory. Kevin Jones scored 19 for the visitors and Collins and Ian Vougioukas each had 12, while Andrey Zubkov netted 11 points in a losing effort.

The first quarter featured nine lead changes as the teams traded blows. A basket by Martinez gave Valencia a 19-17 edge after 10 minutes. Vougioukas and Jones were the main protagonists for Lokomotiv, but a triple from Martinez gave the hosts a 30-23 advantage. Dubljevic had 9 points in the second stanza for Valencia, but so did Jones at the other end and with help from Ryan Broekhoff, the visitors cut it to 39-35 at halftime. Jones and Broekhoff were in main roles at the start of the third quarter, and Matt Janning’s three capped a 0-10 run, making it 43-47. Threes from Dubljevic and Joan Sastre in an 8-0 run put Valencia briefly back in front, but Lokomotiv regained the lead through big men Vougioukas and Vladimir Ivlev, who gave the visitors a 53-58 after 30 minutes. The visitors lead grew to 56-67 after a three from Evgeny Baburin and a basket by Janning, but three-pointers from Sam Van Rossom and Diot sparked Valencia’s comeback. Diot hit another three to get the host closer, and a triple from Martinez gave Valencia a 75-73 edge with 46 seconds to go. Zubkov only split free throws, but the visitors forced a turnover and went in front on Collins’s basket-plus-foul. However, the final 5 seconds were enough for Diot to get a win for Valencia.