Eurocup, Game 4

Spartak St. Petersburg took a huge 50-68 away win over Spirou Charleroi on Tuesday in Group E to make a big step toward booking a spot in the Last 16. Spartak is now in second place in the group with 3-1 record, while Spirou remains last with a winless record. Spartak heads to Turkey to face Turk Telekom after the break knowing that it can advance with a win. A 4-17 run for Spartak bridging the second and third quarters gave the guests a big margin that Spirou was unable to recover. James White led all scorers with 20 points, Yahor Meshcharakou added 13 and Milovan Rakovic had 12 fort he winners. Nick Jacobson and Justin Hamilton netetd 10 apiece for Charleroi.

Dwayne Brolyes capped a 7-0 run for Spirou to start the game, but after five minutes Meshcharakou converted an offensive board to keep Sartak close at 9-6 and later he finished a break to tie the score at 10-10. A three-point-play by White gave Spartak its first lead, 13-15, before Jacobson from mid range made it 15-16 at the end of the first quarter. Spartka climbed to 15-21 early in the second quarter thanks to Meshcharakou. Broyles boosted Spirou from beyond the arc for the 21-23, but White, assisted by Aleksandr Dedushkin, threw down a slam for a 22-27 advantage to the guests. A 0-7 run highlighted by a three pointer and a assist from veteran guard Zakhar Pashutin gave Spartak a double-digit margin, 26-36 as the second quarter finished.

A shining start for Spartak back from the lockers gave to the guests a 27-41 lead. Levance Fields scored his first 2 points of the night as the margin reached 30-46 before Jonathan Tabu tried to sound the charge for Spirou from downtown. Spartak rushed to close the contest and Evgeny Kolesnikov scored from mid range to make it 35-58 before Jure Lalic fixed the score at 37-58 when the third quarter finished. Spirou made a big defensive effort in the last quarter and got as close as 45-58 with four minutes left till the final buzzer, but Spartak rejected their comeback attempt with baskets from beyond the arc by Kolesnikov and Fields to put the win on ice.