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Dutch champions EclipseJet Amsterdam defended their home court against Enterprise BC Dynamo Moscow on Tuesday pulling out a 64-63 victory to strike first in their two-game Eurocup Qualifying Round series. Amsterdam will now nurse its one-point advantage heading into next week’s decisive encounter in Moscow. After a tightly contested first 20 minutes, the second half featured major runs by both squads. After Dynamo had fought back from 11 points down to go up by 4 with under 2 minutes to play, Amsterdam looked to Jessey Voorn to score the game’s final 5 points and earn the win for his team in heroic fashion. Voorn finished with 17 points, and his teammate Christopher Rodgers matched his offensive production while dishing out 6 assists and grabbing 5 steals. Sergey Monya led Dynamo with 13 points to go with 8 rebounds. Sergey Bykov and Alexsey Savrasenko added 12 a piece in the losing effort.
After the opening tip, both teams showed their nervousness by failing to find the bottom of the net for the first 2 minutes, 30 seconds. Savrasenko got the scoring going for Dynamo with a layup and Monya followed up with a three-pointer to grab an early 0-5 lead. Robert Krabbendarn answered with a two-plus-one for the home side, but Dynamo guard Dmitriy Khvostov drilled a long-range bomb forcing Amsterdam to take a timeout. The stoppage of play paid off as Rogers scored 5 straight to tie 8-8. Dynamo grabbed another lead thanks to Bykov and Savrasenko, but Voorn tied it again 14-14 with a jumper. Bykov and Voorn traded three-pointers to end the quarter with the scored knotted at 17-17. Rogers gave Amsterdam its first lead, 19-17, on a jumpshot to open the second quarter, but Bykov responded with a hook shot moments later and a dunk by Yury Vasiliev reclaimed the lead for Dynamo at 19-21. Sergio de Randamie and Peter Mulligan notched two buckets to once again give Amsterdam a two-point lead at 25-23 and force Dynamo to call for time. Out of the timeout Bykov made a lay-up, Dmitry Domani nailed a triple and a jumper to give Dynamo a 25-30 advantage, but 4 straight free throws pulled Amsterdam to within 29-30 as the first half closed.
Domani opened the second half with three-pointer, sparking a 1-11 run by Dynamo that was good for the game's high lead, 30-41. Amsterdam broke the Russians' offensive flow yet again, however. After a timeout, the hosts punched back with an 11-0 run of their own, including 5 points from Mulligan, to tie it at 41-41. A slam by Vasiliev broke the drought for Dynamo, but Krabbendarn’s last-second hook shot sent the Dutch champs into the final period clinging to a 45-43 lead. Krabbendarn nailed a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, setting off a 10-2 surge that put Amsterdam up 55-45. But Dynamo wasn’t done and rolled off 4-18 answer capped by pair of back-to-back layups from Iliya Syrovatka that were good for 59-63 lead with 1:45 left to play. That’s when Voorn stepped up, drilled a three-pointer and then banged home a layup with :21 to go that proved to be the winning basket.
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