IZMIR (Basketball Champions League) - Pinar Karsiyaka fended off a determined Khimik on Wednesday night to win 77-70 and stay in the hunt for second place in Group B of the Basketball Champions League.

Hoping to finish runners-up and to be one of the three best second-place teams, which would allow it to progress to the second stage of the Play-Offs, Nenad Markovic's Karsiyaka stormed into an 18-point lead in the first half but failed to slam the door shut.

Khimik, aiming for a third straight victory, closed the first half on a 6-0 run to trim the deficit to 34-26.

With Jamie Smith wreaking havoc from long range, where he was 4 of 6 on the night, the Ukrainian team hung around and the game remained tight into the fourth quarter.

A Daniel Bejerano 3-pointer reduced the arrears to 60-55 with 7:21 to go but DaJuan Summers, as he did on several occasions, answered with a big shot for the hosts to stretch the lead back to seven.

Khimik never managed to climb out of the big hole they had dug for themselves in the first half but did on a few other occasions pull to within five.

The Turkish outfit held on with Summers' 17 points leading the way while 18-year-old Alp Karahan showed his immense potential by drilling 3 of 4 from the arc and scoring 13.

Mike Green and Muhammed Baygul were also impressive in the backcourt and finished with 12 points apiece.

Smith poured in a game-high 25 points for Khimik, who dropped to 3-10.