Bilbao Basket led from start to finish en route to a comfortable 80-54 win over Nizhny Novgorod on Wednesday night. Both teams now hold 2-1 record, in a share of the first place of Group L, together with Crvena Zvezda Telekom. Bilbao opened the game with an 11-2 run, before Fran Pilepic hit three triples to fuel a 20-4 spurt in the second quarter, opening up 43-22 halftime lead. Bilbao cruised in the second half, as margin reached 76-47 late in the game. Alex Mumbru paced the winners with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Fran Pilepic scored all of his 11 points in the key second quarter, and German Gabriel also netted 11. Raul Lopez added 10, while Axel Hervelle pulled down 13 rebounds along with 8 points. Taylor Rochestie scored 19 for the visitors, and Petr Gubanov finished with 10 in defeat.

Bilbao took control with a team effort at the start of the game, allowing only one basket in the first five minutes, while Gabriel made a put-back, and Mumbru hit a triple and had a layup for 11-2. A triple from Dijon Thompson and a jumper from Dimitriy Khvostov got the visitors going, but Bilbao held 18-10 after the first quarter. Pavel Korbakov hit back-to-back jumpers, cutting it to 19-14 in the second, but Pilepic nailed a three-pointer to spark a big run for the hosts. Pilepic added couple more triples and a jumper during a big 20-4 spurt, and Zoran Vrkic added a triple of his own, as Bilbao pulled away to 39-18. Rochestie hit a jumper for the visitors, but Antanas Kavaliauskas and Dairis Bertans made sure Bilbao went into the break up 43-22. The hosts continued with in the same rhythm in the second half, as Mumbru scored 8 points, including a basket for 54-27. Rochestie, Gubanov and Semen Antonov scored jumpers for Nizhny, and Rochestie scored from downtown, helping cut the margin to 58-36 late in the third. Gubanov scored at the end of the third, and start of the fourth quarter, helping cut it to 60-42, but Lopez hit a triple, and Gabriel hit couple of baskets in a 9-0 run that got Bilbao to 69-42. Rochestie hit a triple and a jumper, but so did Lopez for Bilbao and 76-47. Before game's end, Rochestie hit another triple, and Gubanov added a jumper, before Hervelle rounded out the scoring.