VILLEURBANNE (Basketball Champions League) - ASVEL and Iberostar Tenerife traded blows in a pulsating first leg of their Basketball Champions League Quarter-Final on Tuesday night that finished in a 62-62 tie.

Nikola Dragovic capped a gritty individual performance with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to knot the contest and leave all to play for when the second leg is staged next week in the Canary Islands.

The Serbian played a season-high 33 minutes and finished with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 blocks.

Darryl Watkins played more than 34 minutes and finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds. ASVEL coach JD Jackson had to rely more than usual on both with big man Adrian Uter getting hurt after playing less than four minutes.

"It's not a good result," Jackson said. "It's a fair result. I think Adrian is going to be really frustrated. Darryl Watkins and Nikola Dragovic did a great job of battling so we could stay in the game without rotations. You have to recognize that. I think we stayed focused despite the difficult circumstances. We lived to see another day." 

Iberostar Tenerife, the leaders of the Spanish Liga Endesa 24 rounds into that competition, led by as many as eight points late in the first quarter but ASVEL reeled them in and the two sides engaged in a tight battle the rest of the way.

ASVEL did build their biggest lead of the night at 52-45 late in the third quarter with a DeMarcus Nelson basket but the visitors clawed their way back.

A 3-point play by Lithuania international Marius Grigonis put Iberostar Tenerife ahead at 62-59 with 16 seconds to play but Dragovic's 3-ball from the left corner with time winding down leveled the score to set up a winner-take-all second leg.

Grigonis finished with a team-high 16 points and Aaron Doornekamp scored 12 while also pulling down 7 rebounds.

"Right now, it's like playoff basketball and we have to pick it up to get to the Final Four," Watkins said. "It's kind of like March Madness (NCAA Tournament) back home."

As for the second leg, Watkins said: "It's not going to be easy. They're the number one team over there. They've been playing well. We just have to go over there and play better than we did today."

Tariq Kirksay, the France international who plays for Iberostar Tenerife, said: "Obviously we came here to win but ASVEL is a pretty good team. They're well coached, play physical.

"We were able to bounce back after they took a seven-point lead. To leave here with a tie is more like a victory for us. We know the next week is going to be a different story and they're going to come with all they have."