Ironi Ness Ziona survive scare to start title defense as Qualifiers Finals are set

MUNICH (Germany) - The four Finals of the FIBA Europe Cup Qualifiers are now set with defending champions Ironi Ness Ziona coming through a tough battle in Wednesday's action.

Of the eight remaining sides, six will advance - four winners and two lucky losers - to the Regular Season, where they will complete the 32-team field [more on the criteria determining the lucky losers here].

Ironi Ness Ziona fended off PSD to win 86-82 after the home side had recovered from a 17-point deficit to set up a tense finish. Tal Dunne capped a 5-0 burst to break a tie down the stretch as his side held on with Diante Garrett top-scoring with 19 points.

Parnu were paced by Kasey Hill's game-high 22 points as their comeback effort came up short in front of vocal home support with their venture ending at the penultimate hurdle of the Qualifiers.

It was a successful day for teams from Portugal as Benfica and FC Porto both made it through to the final stage. Benfica secured a hard-fought 83-77 victory over CSO Voluntari behind Aaron Broussard's 22 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, while Porto overcame Keravnos BC as Max Landis top scored with 17 points in the 70-58 success.

Porto will look to end the reign of Ness Ziona on Friday when the two teams meet in the Final in Parnu, while Benfica go up against hosts Donar Groningen after the Dutch side defeated Gmunden Swans 80-53 as Lotanna Nwogbo netted 22 points.

Debutants Trefl Sopot upset top seeded BC Dnipro with an 88-82 triumph, despite a game-high 28 points from Rashad Vaughn. The side from Poland had signaled their intentions with a 25-12 opening quarter, but trailed early on in the fourth before a pivotal run of eight unanswered points.

Sopot will meet Iraklis BC in Friday's showdown as the Greek side earned a comfortable 95-75 victory over group hosts Akademik Plovdiv, in Sofia, with five players in double figures in the win.

Earlier, medi Bayreuth moved a step closer to qualifying as they held off a strong response from Naturtex-SZTE-Szeged to win 84-77 in Krasnoyarsk with 23 points from Marcus Thornton leading the way.

Hapoel Haifa will be their opponents in the Final after they denied Enisey Krasnoyarsk for an impressive 85-80 triumph in Russia. Venezuelan guard Gregory Vargas dished out 13 assists to go with 12 points for a double-double in the win as his side poured in 32 points in the final quarter to seal the win.

The Qualifiers action concludes on Friday as the four Finals take place across the four different groups.

FIBA