Nine games are now in the books, with just one remaining
Game Center: London Lions see off Trento to close out Round 3
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Thursday, October 16
London Lions 87-71 Dolomiti Energia Trento
The wait is over for the London Lions as the British club finally grabbed their first victory of the EuroCup season with an 87-71 victory over Dolomiti Energia Trento at home. London took complete control of the game with runs of 16-2 and 23-5 in the first half. The lead swelled to 39 points with 17 minutes to go before Trento charged back to trim the gap to nine points with just more than two minutes to go. London managed to catch itself just in time for the win and a 1-2 record in Group B, with a 3-0 all-time record against the Italian club.
Kameron McGusty led the Lions with 20 points, Tarik Phillip had 15 points and 7 assists, and Johnathan Williams added 14 points. DeVante Jones tallied 22 points and Andrej Jakimovski and Cheickh Niang both had 15 points in the loss. Trento dropped to 1-2.
Wednesday, October 15
Lietkabelis Panevezys 94-98 ratiopharm ulm
ratiopharm ulm saw its 19-point halftime lead cut to 4 in the penultimate minute, but still held on to defeat Lietkabelis Panevezys 94-98 on Wednesday at Kalnapilio Arena. With the score 86-90, Christian Sengfelder blocked a Jamel Morris shot and Mark Smith buried a clutch three-pointer at the other end with 1:02 remaining.
Christopher Ledlum paced the winners with 26 points and 5 assists, Tobias Jensen tallied 13 points and 6 rebounds and Bryce Brown added 12 points for Ulm, which remained undefeated through three games. Kristian Kullamae, Jamel Morris and Augustine Rubit each scored 18 and Paulius Danusevicius posted a double-double for Lietkabelis, which dropped to 1-2 after suffering its first home loss of the season.
Panionios Athens 56-66 Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse
Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse remains undefeated in Group B after holding off Panionios Athens 56-66 on Wednesday night in Glyfada. Bourg improved to 3-0 on the young season while Panionios dropped to 1-2. Bourg was in command during the first three quarters thanks to a double-digit rebounding advantage through the first 30 minutes (36-26), and it built a 21-point margin which turned too big for the hosts to overcome.
Darius McGhee scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half, Vincent Mitchell netted 10, while Kevin Kokila pulled down 11 rebounds along with 9 points. Giorgios Tsalmpouris had 11, and Nate Watson scored 10 points in the loss.
Besiktas GAIN Istanbul 93-88 NINERS Chemnitz
Besiktas GAIN Istanbul claimed a hard-fought 93-88 home win over NINERS Chemnitz at BJK GAIN Sports Complex, which improved its record to 2-1 in the BKT EuroCup. In a tightly contested matchup where both teams struggled defensively and had trouble finding rhythm from beyond the arc, Besiktas leaned on its crowd energy and bench depth to take control in the final quarter. Team captain Yigit Arslan led the way with 19 points on 83.3% shooting from deep, posting a PIR of 23 and hitting crucial threes down the stretch.
Berk Ugurlu provided a spark with 8 points and 12 assists, finishing with a PIR of 24, while Ante Zizic added 17 points and 7 rebounds in the paint. For Chemnitz, Kevin Yebo stood out with 32 points and 7 rebounds, Corey Davis recorded a double-double of 22 points and 11 assists, and Yordan Minchev contributed 15 points in the loss.
Slask Wroclaw 94-93 U-BT Cluj-Napoca
Slask Wroclaw rallied from 16 points down to grab its second victory of the season by beating U-BT Cluj-Napoca 94-93 in an absolute thriller at home. The game in Poland featured 13 lead changes – nine of them coming in the final quarter – as Slask improved 2-1 in Group A. Slask used an 8-0 spurt in the final frame to build an eight-point lead and barely held on. Stefan Djordjevic collected 19 points and 8 rebounds, Noah Kirkwood scored 15 points and Kadre Gray and Jakub Niziol both added 14 points.
Cluj fell to 1-2 despite another electrifying performance by Fatts Russell, who tallied 21 points, 8 rebounds and 15 assists, coming up one shy of tying the EuroCup record. Trey Woodbury added 20 points and Mitch Creek chipped in 18 points in the loss.
Umana Reyer Venice 89-69 Neptunas Klaipeda
Umana Reyer Venice earned its first EuroCup victory by defeating Neptunas Klaipeda 89-69. The Italian team dictated play throughout, keeping the Lithuanians at distance for the majority of the contest. Despite shooting just 17% from deep, Reyer scored as a collective unit, with five different players reaching double figures.
Chris Horton stood out, recording a double-double and finishing with a PIR of 22. The win moves Reyer to 1-2, while frustrated Neptunas fall to 0-3.
BAXI Manresa 101-94 Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem
Manresa fought back from 13 points down to win its second-ever game in the EuroCup by knocking off Jerusalem 101-94 at home. EuroCup debutant Manresa used a 24-10 run spanning the final two quarters to get back into the game, which was played behind closed doors. The final frame was a nail-biter but the home side pulled away with an 8-3 surge in the closing moments to improve to 2-1 with back-to-back wins.
Alfonso Plummer set a new career high with 21 points while Alex Reyes scored 16 points and Hugo Benitez chipped in 15 points and 5 assists. Jerusalem has lost back-to-back games for a 1-2 mark despite Justin Smith tallying a career high 23 points and both Jared Harper and Khadeen Carrington scoring 21 points.
Tuesday, October 14
Turk Telekom Ankara 79-72 Buducnost VOLI Podgorica
Turk Telekom claimed a much-needed first home win of the EuroCup season, defeating Buducnost 79-72 at Ankara Sports Hall in a well-rounded team performance. In a team effort where multiple players contributed, Kyle Allman stood out with 16 points and 4 assists for a PIR of 19, setting the tone on both ends of the floor.
Marko Simonovic added 15 points along with 5 rebounds, while Kris Bankston provided 10 points and 5 rebounds and Kyle Alexander finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds. For Buducnost, Skyler Mays had 21 points and both Yogi Ferrell, Nikola Tanaskovic and Fletcher Magee each contributed 10.
Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana 80-59 Aris Thessaloniki Betsson
Cedevita Olimpija remained perfect on the young EuroCup season by fighting past Aris 80-59 at home. Cedevita used a 15-6 surge in the third quarter to grab a 16-point lead and then made 3 straight triples in the final frame to secure a 3-0 mark in Group A. Umoja Gibson paced the home side with 19 points while Joseph Girard had 16 points and Aleksej Nikolic added 15 points.
Aris committed 21 turnovers in dropping to 2-1 with Elijah Mitrou-Long scoring a team-high 19 points. The Greek side’s top scorer, Bryce Jones, was held to just 6 points - 15 below his average going into the game.
Veolia Towers Hamburg 85-106 Bahcesehir College Istanbul
Bahcesehir recovered from early struggles in the first half to score 60 points in the second, eventually defeating Hamburg comfortably, 85-106. The win took Marko Barac’s team to 3-0 for their EuroCup campaign, while the Towers fell to 0-3.
Despite shooting 7% from three-point land in the first half, the Istanbul-based team transformed for the second, in which they took advantage of their opponents foul troubles, which ultimately played a decisive part in the result. Bahcesehir recorded 27-points off turnovers and 17 fast-break points. Caleb Homesley and Malachi Flynn recorded 21 points, while Tyler Cavanaugh put in a well-rounded performance of 16 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists to inspire his team to victory.