LARNACA (Basketball Champions League) – A relentless U-BT Cluj-Napoca required approximately seven minutes on Tuesday to build a double-digit lead over Petrolina AEK Larnaca in the first leg of their Qualification Round 1 tie and maintained their defensive intensity the rest of the way to register an emphatic 78-50 win on the road.

The only incident that blemished Cluj-Napoca's otherwise perfect trip to Cyprus was an injury to Kuti Nandor, who will miss Game 2 and possibly Qualification Round 2, should the Romanian side advance.

Romanian star Vlad Moldoveanu went 6-for-10 from the floor and picked up a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds to register an efficiency rating of 23 in 29 minutes of play. Center Ousmane Barro also collected a double-double, of 12 points and 12 boards, for an efficiency rating of 22.

Cluj-Napoca out-rebounded their hosts 44 to 30 and held AEK to a 32% field goal percentage, but perhaps the most telling stat was their 23 assists which enabled them to find open looks and shoot an eye-popping 10-of-18 from three-point range.

The Romanian side play host to the Cypriot champions on Thursday in the return leg and in case they avoid a monumental collapse and a defeat by a margin larger than 29 points they will advance to Round 2, where Muratbey Usak Sportif awaits the winner of this tie.

Game Boxscore