The reigning Finnish basketball champion Karhubasket advanced to the top four in the FIBA Europe Cup.
Kauhajoki Karhubasket won basketball in the second leg of the quarterfinals of the FIBA Europe Cup in front of their home crowd Porto 75–65 (42–28) and advanced to the semifinals with a combined score of 156–145.
Karhubasket had taken the opening part played in Lisbon by 81–80.
They excelled as Kauhajoki’s best scorers Dikembe Dixon 18/5, Daniel Dolenc 14/4/2bl, Cameron Jones 12/2/5s, Henri Kantonen 12/4/3s and Jeffrey Crockett 5/16/3s
Porto briefly led 15–11 at the beginning of the match, but Kauhajoki’s newest addition, Dixson, collected nine points at a fast pace and set Karhubasket on fire. At the break, Kauhajoki already had a 15-point lead in total points.
The Finnish club was very close to the game all the time and it reached the last quarter with a score of 60-48. In the last period, Karhubasketi’s defense kept Porto’s throwers at bay and convincingly secured their place in the next round.
Karhubasket, which has now won 12 European games and lost only two, will face the winner of the match between Gaziantep (Turkey) and Anwil Wloclawek (Poland) in the semifinals. The two-part semifinals will be played on March 29 and April 5. The last, decisive semi-final match will be played at Kauhajoki.