Euro Roseto earned an historical qualification to the ULEB Cup's second round in its very first season of participation at any European competition, when it turned back its direct rival, Opel Skyliners, 84-79 at home on Tuesday after a dramatic final quarter. Skyliners were behind by 17 early in the last period, but with a series of three-pointers drew within 81-78 before Roseto center Dan Callahan slammed the decisive basket through the visitors' basket.. Marko Milic and Digo Fajardo led the way for Roseto with 15 points apiece. Rodney Monroe added 14 and point guard Alessandro Davolio 13. Larry Kwiatkowski, the protagonist of Skyliners' rally, was the scoring leader for Opel with 20 points, while David Thomas added 12 and Robert Maras 15. Opel was eliminated with a 3-7 record while Roseto finished 5-5 and in third place in Group B.

The game began with Roseto trying to put a stranglehold on the matter with an 11-4 run keyed by an aggressive man-to-man defense to stop the passes to Opel's big men. But the visitors soon answered and tied 11-11 with Pascal Roller and Mario Kasun scoring. Milic and Fajardo gave another push to hometeam for a 17-11 lead. Monroe shooter went on the floor after 7 minutes and bagged a triple for 22-15. The period ended 22-17 as the Skyliners recouped a basket in the final minute.

The second quarter started with a 10-2 run of Roseto that gave the locals the first comfortable lead in the game, 32-19, on a four-point play - three-pointer plus foul shot - netted by Monroe. After that, the game balanced out as Opel big man Roberto Maras maintained his team to mantained Skyliners at the same distannce by netting at the buzzer a layup for the 41-29 halftime score. Monroe had 10 points and Milic 9 for Roseto, while Maras was up to 9 for Opel.

The third period was close and balanced with the guests proposing a fullcourt zone press and falling back in the defensive end to a 2-3 zone that hurt Roseto's scoring. The home team needed the good performance of Davolio form the arc to mantain a comfortable 62-50 lead after 30 minutes. Kwiatkowski was becoming a real threat for the Italin defense together with Maras. In the last period, Kwiatkowski was the man as Skyliners rallid to 73-69, but Milic reacted with 6 straight points on 4 free throws and jumphook to give Roseto an 80-72 advantage. All that was left was the dramatic last minute with Callahan breaking the balance, which was long enough for the Roseto fans, if just a little short for Opel.