Alba Berlin remained alive and well in the race to reach the Quarterfinals following an 83-71 victory over Le Mans in the German capital on Wednesday. Blagota Sekulic scored 17 points to lead Berlin, which improved to 3-2 in Last 16 Group I. Alba travels to Spain next week to meet DKV Joventut in a winner takes all duel for a quarterfinal berth. Meanwhile Le Mans fell to 1-4 and lost all hope of advancing to the next stage. Berlin led for the majority of the game, but Le Mans displayed an excellent fighting spirit and mounted numerous comebacks. After trailing by 15 in the fourth quarter, Le Mans closed the gap to 73-68, but then missed a few shots and Berlin sealed the win from the line. Rashad Wright and Julius Jenkins added 15 points apiece for the winners, who overcame 18 turnovers in part thanks to a 10-for-22 (45.4%) shooting night from downtown. Dee Spencer led the Le Mans attack with 19 points and Marc Salyers added 15 in the loss.

Spencer and Rashad Wright showed they were ready from the start by opening the game with triples. Berlin built a small lead through Sekulic and Immanuel McElroy, but threes from Antoine Diot and Maleye Ndoye kept Le Mans close. Jenkins drilled a triple as part of a 7-point spurt as Berlin pulled ahead by 9. Zach Wright’s free throw brought Le Mans within 22-14 after 10 minutes. J.P. Batista scored inside and Zach Wright’s steal and layup sparked the visitors, who soon tied the score at 22-22 on a layup from Diot. Steffen Hamann would not let Le Mans get the lead and he sank 2 free throws, but Le Mans continued to fight and tied the score twice more before Rashad Wright came through with 7 consecutive points to make it 38-30. Salyers tried to carry Le Mans back only to run into three-pointers from Jenkins and Philip Zwiener to give the hosts a 44-35 lead at the break.

Spencer and Wright traded threes early in the third quarter, but Berlin would not let Le Mans rally. The visitors continued to attack the basket and were able to narrow the gap to 51-43 with free throws, but Hamann and Sekulic soon had Berlin back up by double figures. Thierry Rupert was fouled on the offensive glass and converted 2 free throws and Spencer added three the hard way to get Le Mans within 6 before a Derrick Byars triple made it 61-52 at the end of the third quarter. Batista converted a basket-plus-foul to get the visitors within 6 as the deciding quarter got underway. But just when Le Mans thought it had a chance, Dragan Dojcin and Jenkins rattled in back-to-back triples and Sekulic added a basket in a 9-0 run that made it 70-55 and seemed to wrap up the win. Le Mans didn’t give up as Salyers scored the next 5 points and Diot added 2 from the line. Dojcin went to the line and put Berlin back ahead by 10 with three minutes remaining, but Le Mans continued to attack. Charles Kahudi stepped up with free throws and an assist to Spencer for a clutch three that made it 73-68 and caused Berlin to call a timeout. Jenkins went to the line and made 1 free throw, but Le Mans luck ran out as Spencer missed twice and Rashad Wright and Jenkins iced the game with free throws at the other end.