Mario Austin amassed a double-double of 16 points and 14 rebounds to help Benetton Tamoil Treviso to finish its first-ever ULEB Cup regular season with an 80-83 road win at ASK Riga in Group H on Tuesday night. Benetton won its sixth straight game to climb to first place in the group with a 7-3 record, edging BC Kyiv for the top spot on a tiebreaker. Nevertheless, the Italian powerhouse will not be among the top seeds in the Last 32 draw, as its record was the worst among the nine group winners. Meanwhile ASK Riga dropped to 3-7 and finished the regular season in fifth place. An 18-3 Benetton run early in the last quarter made the difference, giving to the guests a slim margin they maintained to the end. Lionel Chalmers nailed 16 points for Benetton, Pops Bonsu-Mensah collected 15 with 9 boards, Marco Mordente had 15 points and John Lucas 11. Curtis Millage of ASK Riga led all the scorers with 24 points on 8-of-9 two-point shooting. Dwayne Broyles had 17 and Raitis Grafs 12.

Matteo Soragna from downtown gave an early 2-7 advantage to Benetton, but the hosts climbed back and tied it through Grafs at 11-11. Soon Riga took its first lead of the game thanks to Millage. Austin tied it again and after Broyles and Chalmers exchanged threes, Millage fixed the final score at 21-18 after 10 minutes. Chalmers gave Benetton a 24-27 lead from long distance early in the second quarter and Mordente fueled the guests to 26-30. But Gatis Jahovics soon tied the score and a minute later gave a slim 33-30 cushion to Riga by posting 3 of his 4 attempts from the foul line. Aerick Sanders scored back-to-back baskets to give ASK Riga a 37-32 advantage, then Lucas and Ernests Kalve exchanged baskets and Bonsu-Mensah fixed the score at 41-38 at halftime. Grafs, Millage and Broyles were hot enough at the beginning of the third quarter, pushing Riga ahead 49-40. Austin grabbed an offensive board to score and get within 51-45, but Sanders soon from the foul line gave a double-figure advantage to the hosts. Aaron Bramlett made it 61-49 assisted by Sandis Buskevics. Chalmers scored just 1 of his 2 free throws to finish the third quarter down 64-55. Bonsu-Mensah fueled the hopes of Benetton by pulling down another offensive board to score in the paint and then back-to-back baskets from downtown by Mordente and Chalmers brought Benetton within just a point, 66-65, forcing the hosts to call timeout. Austin scored from downtown to cap a 3-18 run that gave a 69-75 lead to Treviso. Lucas raised the margin to 72-80 again from long distance. Back-to-back baskets by Millage kept Riga alive at 76-80, but Mordente didn't miss his attempts from the foul line to make it 78-83. Millage answered again but wasn't enough to take away the win from Benetton.