YUZHNE (Basketball Champions League) - Maccabi Rand Media prevailed, 69-60, at Khimik in Ukraine on Tuesday night to clinch fifth place in Group B and seal a spot in the Basketball Champions League Play-offs.

Entering this week's round with six wins and seven defeats - the same record as CSM CSU Oradea, Avtodor Saratov and Kataja Basket - the Israeli club was hoping to claim one of two Play-off spots.

Though Avtodor battled back from a double-digit deficit to stun hosts Le Mans and claim fourth place, both Oradea and Kataja Basket lost their games.

That allowed the Israeli club, with Patrick Richard pouring in a game-high 20 points, to get a convincing win in Group B and claim fifth place.

"We knew what was at stake," Richard said. "We just came here and gave it our all. We knew it was going to be a tough game. The key was the point guard (Jaime Smith) in our eyes. We just tried to be real aggressive on defense the whole game against him." 

Arik Shivek, the winning coach, was elated.

"The main message for our team was, 'guys, first of all, let's do our job. Let's win our game.'"

Kataja Basket nearly fought back from a big deficit to beat Pinar Karsiyaka but came up short.

Maccabi Rand Media will now await the outcome of Friday's draw for the Play-offs in Mies, Switzerland, at the House of Basketball.