In 2002, the Cup Winners’ Cup final was held in Lyon, where Montepaschi Siena beat Valencia Basket 81-71 in a match where the Italians left in the second quarter and never looked back. Petar Naumoski, MVP of the final, made the difference
Quarterfinals
Baskets Bonn – Valencia Basket
Unics Kazan – Montepaschi Siena
Hapoel Jerusalem – Lietuvos Rytas
Panionios – Anwil
Semi-finals
Valencia Basket – Anwil
Montepaschi Siena – Hapoel Jerusalem
Pamesa Valencia once again came close to winning their first European title, as they had done three years earlier against another Italian team, Benetton Treviso, also in the final of the Copa Saporta. This time the nerves clearly betrayed the Valencians, who played a game far below their potential, and were disastrous in the end. Montepaschi Siena, with the help of the exceptional and incombustible Macedonian point guard Petar Naumoski (23 points), only had to put forward the match that suited them to win: possessions of the ball pushed to the limit and a clever final shot.
Montepaschi Siena 81
*Stefanov – 17p, 3r
*Gorenc – 4p, 6r
*M.Zukauskas – 2p, 1r
*Topic – 14p, 6r
*Chiacig – 9p, 11r
Naumoski – 23p, 3a
Tolbert – 8p, 7a
Bulatovic – 4p, 4r
Valencia Basket 71
*Rodilla – 18p, 4a
*Luengo – 6p, 3a
*Paraíso – 9p, 5a
*Hopkins – 20p, 10r
*Alston – 11p, 8r
Elson – 4p, 2t
Schmidt – 3p, 5r
Millera – 0p, 3a
