Valencia win Game 1 against Nizhny by 9

Valencia Basket used big second and third quarters on the way to 84-75 win over Nizhny Novgorod in Game 1 of their two-legged Eurocup Semifinals series. The team with the highest aggregate scored in two-game series will advance to the finals, which means that a victory or a loss by up to 8 points next week will be enough for Valencia to become the first team to reach its fourth Eurocup final. Led by Dijon Thompson the visitors had a better start to the game, building a 15-23 lead, but Pau Ribas, Justin Doellman and Bojan Dubljevic rallied Valencia, scoring all points in a 13-0 that closed the second quarter for 41-32 halftime lead. Valencia’s defense continued dominating after the break, and another 13-0 run helped break the 20-point barrier in the third quarter, making it 63-41. However, the visitors replied with a 2-16 spurt to get back into the game, and Semen Antonov hit a last second three-pointer to set the final margin at 9 points. Dubljevic paced Valencia with 24 points plus 12 rebounds, Ribas had 17 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, while Doellman had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Thompson had 25 points and 8 rebounds for the visitors. Pavel Korbkov netted 14, while Taylor Rochestie scored 13 for Nizhny Novgorod.