Pepsi Caserta held on for an 88-80 victory over CEZ Nymburk, but it wasn’t enough to lift the winners to first place in Group K. Down 6 early in the fourth quarter, Caserta reeled off 14 unanswered points and grabbed an important win to improve to 5-1 in Group K and then headed to see the outcome of the Asefa Estudiantes/Galatasaray Café Crown game and when Estu eked out a slim win, Caserta learned it was second in the group. Head coach Stefano Sacripanti’s men will now face Unics Kazan in the Eurocup Quarterfinals starting March 23. Nymburk meanwhile finished the Last 16 without a win and now returns home hoping to make a run at Eurocup glory next year. It was a game of streaks with Lukasz Koszarek and Ebi Ere leading Caserta on a 13-0 second-quarter run for a 51-38 lead at the break. Afik Nissim and Dionte Christmas combined to scored 23 third-quarter points to lead Nymburk back and Nissim made it 66-72 early in the fourth. But the hosts reeled off 14 unanswered points after that and remained in control to snatch the valuable victory. Ere paced the Caserta attack with 15 points, Martin Collusi added 13, Fabio Di Bella 12 and Koszarek and Eric Williams had 11 each. Nissim paced Nymburk with 22 points, Christmas added 14, Ladislav Sokolovsky scored 10 and Radek Necas tallied 10 points and 8 rebounds in defeat.

The game was tight early with Caserta taking small leads and Nymburk matching practically shot for shot. Williams put the hosts up 11-5 with a basket-plus foul only to see Petr Benda tie the score and Tre Simmons put the visitors up 2. Caserta regained momentum and went ahead 18-13 on a Koszarek triple. Sokolovsky capped a 0-7 Nymburk response before free throws from Nissim and Koszarek left the teams knotted at 24-24 through 10 minutes. The trend continued early in the second quarter with Collusi and Philip Martin leading the hosts and Christmas scoring twice for the visitors. Pavel Slezak scored in transition to lift Nymburk to 32-34, but it was all downhill after that. Koszarek and Ere each scored twice in a 13-0 charge that put Caserta in control. Necas finally ended the Nyburk drought, but Jumaine Jones scored twice in the final minute of the half to put his team ahead 51-38 at the break.

Nissim ignited the visitors at the start of the second half with a triple and then a layup off a Simmons steal. Williams restored a 9-point lead, but Nymburk had the momentum and started closing in. Nissim hit another three and then Christmas made on from downtown and added a traditional three-point play to bring Nymburk within 58-56. Ere gave Caserta some room to breath with a triple, but the duo of Nissim and Christmas struck again and lifted Nymburk ahead 64-67 at the end of the quarter. Nissim lifted the lead to 66-72 early in the fourth quarter, but seemed to tire and Caserta took advantage. Colussi connected from downtown, Martin tied the game with a three-point play and Caserta kept the momentum for a 14-0 charge and an 80-72 lead. Christmas and Nissim could not regain their third-quarter form, but Sokolovsky gave the visitors hope with a triple. Nissim made it 82-77, but Williams and Timmy Bowers put the game out of reach for Caserta, which then turned its attention to Madrid only to be ultimately disappointed.