A killer rally on its home floor lifted Alba Berlin to an 84-81 victory worth a spot in the Last 32 at the same time that it eliminated visiting Virtus Roma on Thursday. Alba trailed 64-76 before reeling off 20 points in the game's last 5 minutes to win. Reggie Redding scored 20 for the winners, while Leon Radosevic added 14, David Logan 12 and Vojdan Stojanovski 11. Roma got 25 points from Jimmy Baron and 13 from Trevor Mbakwe, but could not shut the door once Alba found its scoring rhythm late in the game.

Rome hit the floor smoking, with triples by Lorenzo D'Ercole and Phil Goss before Logan got Alba's offense started, after almost 4 minutes, from downtown. Redding gave the hosts their first lead at 11-9, but 4 late points by Bobby Jones helped Roma hold a 15-17 lead after 10 minutes. Logan's 5 points in a 9-0 run suddenly had Alba ahead 27-19 and the hosts held the same margin, 36-28, 2 minutes before halftime. But Roma rallied in the time left until Riccardo Moraschini buried a triple on the buzzer to give the visitors a 37-38 halftime lead.

With the first 6 points after halftime, Alba went ahead by 43-38 on Jan Jagla's put-back, but again Roma came back. The guess finally re-took the lead on a quadruple-shot from downtown, one by Goss and three in a row by Baron to make it 49-57. Baron still had time for 5 more points in the third quarter which ended with his team in charge, 54-62. When Baron's 3 free throws made it 64-76 with 5 minutes to play, Roma looked strong, but a triple by Redding sparked Alba's comeback. Cliff Hammonds scored 3 points the hard way and Stojanovski consecutive layups to get Alba within 76-77. Roma still led 78-81 with 30 seconds left on Baron's jumper, but Redding and Logan scored layups while Radosevic dunked in the last 20 seconds to seal the victory and a spot in the Last 32 for Alba Berlin.