MEN’S BASKETBALL: Tomislav Zubcic netted 19 points but the London Lions Euro Cup campaign ended with a 89-78 defeat in Catalonia at Club Joventut Badalona on Wednesday night.

The north Barcelona club will be joined in the last eight by Paris, who edged out Lithuania’s Lietkebalis 98-97, Ratiopharm Ulm from Germany, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Promitheas Patras from Greece, Gran Canaria, Ukraine’s Prometey and either Turk Telecom Ankara or Germani Brescia.

MEN’S CRICKET: Pakistan begin their five-match Twenty20 series with New Zealand tomorrow at Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium.

The Kiwis come into the contest in excellent shape after recently defeating Sri Lanka convincingly across all formats of the game but Pakistan currently sit third, two places above them, in the ICC rankings.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are also rated as the second and third-best batsmen in the short-form game.

MEN’S RUGBY UNION: The United Rugby Championship resumes tomorrow evening with third-placed Ulster needing a win from their home match with the struggling Dragons to climb above the Stormers into second place.

Tomorrow’s other games see Benetton in Durban to take on the Sharks and fourth-placed Glasgow Warriors face the Scarlets.

Unbeaten table-toppers Leinster have travelled to Johannesburg to play the Lions on Saturday afternoon.

MEN’S FOOTBALL: Larne will be crowned Irish Premiership champions for the first time in their 134-year history if they can avoid defeat at Crusaders tomorrow night. 

The league leaders have lost only four games all season and saw off third-placed Cliftonville 2-0 in midweek while their nearest challengers Linfield, who were chasing a fifth successive title, were stunned by Bobby Burns’s late equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Glentoran.