One could have been forgiven for thinking that U-BT Cluj-Napoca was at home against Umana Reyer Venice whereas it was in fact a road game for the Romanian side, roared on throughout the contest by a sizeable contingent of fans who made the trip to Italy.
Cluj came close to staging a stunning upset as it erased an early 18-point deficit to take a 72-71 lead in the fourth quarter, but the visitors were eventually undone by Reyer’s three-point shooting.
The hosts hit 12 of 21 shots from long range, with Derek Willis making 4 of 6 while Marco Spissu netted 3 of 5. Cluj, which connected on only 2 of 7 from downtown in the first half when Reyer was 7-for-11, finished 7-for-18 from three-point range and was also outrebounded 29-26.