Lietuvos Rytas wins against VEF Riga, goes to semifinals

The host team Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius advanced to the second stage of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds, and will face German League runner-ups EWE Baskets Oldenburg in the semifinals. On Tuesday, Rytas went through to the next stage after holding off resilient VEF Riga 80-71 behind 23 points from Renaldas Seibutis, and with Omar Cook hitting a late three-pointer that got a luck bounce off the rim. Martynas Gecevicius collected 11 points plus 8 rebounds, and Juan Palacios had 10 points, 8 rebounds plus 4 assist in victory. Tomas Delininkaitis finished with 14 points, and Dee Brown had 13 points and 7 assists for Riga. In the opening game of the tournament, Oldenburg edged Cimberio Varese 74-79 with Julius Jenkins netting 18 points off the bench. Chris Kramer made key and timely plays in Oldenburg’s win, scoring 8 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Kramer also added 5 rebounds and 5 assists to his tally, while Rickey Paulding had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in victory. Achille Polonara scored 18 points for Varese, which together with Riga, will compete in 2013-14 Eurocup. Qualifying rounds continue on Wednesday with the remaining first round matches. Khimki Moscow Region faces Telenet Ostend at 17:00 CET, before CEZ Basketball Nymburk and Banvit BK Bandirma tip off at 19:30.