UTENA (Basketball Champions League) – Juventus Utena used a sublime burst early in the third frame of their second leg match-up with FC Porto to cruise to a 77-59 victory and punch their ticket to the Regular Season of the inaugural edition of the Basketball Champions League.

The Lithuanian side held a two-point advantage from their 83-81 first-leg win in Portugal but got off to a sluggish start on Thursday and FC Porto jumped ahead 17-16 at the end of the first quarter. Nonetheless the visitors’ 10 turnovers in the first 18 minutes enabled the hosts to claim the lead during the second quarter and then Utena made the decisive move shortly after the half-time break.

With 9:01 left to play in the third period, Gytis Sirutavicius converted a four-point play that ignited a 14-0 run and Juventus turned a fragile 36-32 lead into an unassailable 50-32 gap.

Sirutavicius and Jamar Diggs combined for 8-of-12 between them and finished with 13 points apiece to pave the way for Utena, while Vytautas Sulskis chipped in with 11 points. The winners scored 18 points off Porto’s turnovers while the Portuguese side failed to capitalise on Utena’s mistakes and only scored five points from similar situations.

Juventus will play in Group D of the BCL and will go up against Sidigas Avellino, Iberostar Tenerife, Telenet Oostende, Cibona Zagreb, SIG Strasbourg, Mega Leks and one more team that will emerge from next week’s Qualification Round 2.