TARTU (Basketball Champions League) - Bakken Bears Aarhus snapped out of a calamitous opening quarter display and fought back to claim a valuable 75-67 win on the road over BC Tartu in the first leg of their Qualification Round 2 tie.

It was all one-way traffic for Tartu early as they jumped to a 23-9 lead shortly before the first buzzer exploiting the fact Bakken started on 5-of-18 from the floor and were out-rebounded 16 to 7 in the initial period.

Bakken never managed to balance the battle on the glass, but put enough pressure on the ball in the second frame to provoke an avalanche of Tartu mistakes and gradually get back in the game.

The Danish champions, who provoked 25 Tartu turnovers and scored a whopping 24 points off them, used a 13-3 run in the third stanza to grab a 62-50 lead. Tartu threw everything at their visitors and pushed ahead one last time, 65-63 with 5:15 remaining, but Michel Diouf instigated a 6-0 run for the Bears and the Danish side held on for the important win.

Diouf led Bakken with a near double-double of 18 points and nine rebounds and Devaughn Akoon-Purcell added 14 points while Venky Jois had 15 points and a game-high 17 rebounds in a losing effort.