BELGRADE, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Serbia Red Star achieved a convincing triumph in the final game of the basketball Eurocup Top 16 on Tuesday over the Group G runner-up Malaga by 105-89, in a match that was decided largely by three-pointers.
The Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade echoed with chants of some 3,000 fans who came to support their team, despite the fact that the match of the Round 6 of the Top 16 phase of the competition had no significance on Red Star's elimination, nor Malaga's promotion to the quarterfinals.
The first quarter was marked with 6 three-pointers of the guest team which kept them separated from Red Star, despite efforts of Billy Baron and Joe Ragland to catch up. However, in the final minutes of the quarter, Mouhammad Faye and Ognjen Dobric decreased the gap to just one point.
The turnaround for the home team came in the second quarter, thanks to precise three pointers by Faye and Nemanja Nenadic at 41-36, which paved the path to the record 16-point lead for Red Star.
Kyle Woltjer and Giorgi Shermadini made a brave attempt to rescue the day for Malaga and cut the gap to just 8 points at the middle of the third quarter, but their effort was annulled by the home team before the final quarter.
Malaga started the fourth quarter aggressively and created a 7-0 run, but Ragland scored a three pointer at the key moment for 89-81, while Dobric expanded the lead further.
Best in the winning team was Ragland with 17 points and 7 assists, followed by Davidovac with 16 points. Wiltjer was the best in Malaga with 18 points.
The Spanish team will advance to quarterfinals from the Group G, together with the group leader Valencia, while Red Star and Limoges end competition here.
