Alba Berlin held off the Guildford Heat for a clutch 71-80 road win on Tuesday night in Group A. Berlin improved to 4-4 and remains in the thick of the battle for a ticket to the elimination rounds from the group. Alba will be at least tied for third place, if not alone in third, after the week’s last game between KK Bosna and Siauliai. The Heat took an early lead through an 11-0 run, but Berlin responded with a 0-21 surge. The hosts answered right back with 10 straight points before Bobby Brown handed the visitors a 39-43 halftime lead. E.L. Harrison and Ajou Deng kept the Heat going and the game was tied at 49-49, but Julius Jenkins kept Berlin on top. Tony Dorsey brought Guildford within 1, but it wasn’t enough and Brown finished off the job for the visitors. Goran Nikolic led the way for Berlin with 15 points, Patrick Femerling posted 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Jenkins and Brown scored 12 points apiece. Deng paced the Heat with a season-high 19 points, Daniel Gilbert added 18, Harrison 14 and Dorsey posted 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Berlin scored the game’s first basket though Dragan Dojcin, but the hosts got going quickly. Deng started things off for the hosts with a triple, however the push came a few minutes later. With the score tied at 8-8, Gilbert reeled off 9 unanswered points before Harrison added a pair from the line to give the hosts a double-figure lead. The lead reached 13 before Femerling and Nikolic cut the deficit to 23-15 after 10 minutes. The momentum remained with the visitors into the second period. Femerling and Nikolic scored inside, then Vujadin Subotic drilled a three to tie the score at 23-23 and the point kept coming. A few more points from Femerling and Nikolic wrapped up a game-breaking 0-21 surge that put Berlin in control. However the Heat weren’t done. Threes from James Jones and Deng tied the score at 31-31 and Harrison capped a 10-0 response to put the hosts on top once more. The lead would change hands several more time until a Brown three-pointer made it 39-43 at halftime. The scoring quieted early in the second half as both teams went scoreless for three minutes. Harrison and Deng put Guildford ahead again and kept the hosts in the game for most of the period. But with the score tied 49-49, Jenkins scored 5 in a 0-7 surge to give the visitors a 53-59 lead heading into the fourth period. Dorsey still managed to get the Heat within 64-65 midway through the fourth quarter, however 5 straight points from Brown proved to be too much for Guildford. Berlin made its free throws down the stretch to wrap up the victory.