Five playoff spots remain – three in Group A, two in Group B – entering the final night of the regular season
Game Center: Wolves, Besiktas, Cluj win to clinch playoff berths; Reyer, Buducnost advance too
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The final round of the BKT EuroCup regular season arrives with playoff places and home-court advantage still up for grabs and several showdowns between direct rivals. Here’s your overview of Round 18’s action.
Wednesday, February 5
Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius 91-82 Buducnost VOLI Podgorica
Wolves advanced to the playoffs for the first time by topping Buducnost in the Lithuanian capital. Wolves finished Group B with a 10-8 record, while Buducnost ended the regular season with a 9-9 record. Matas Jogela led six scorers in double-figures for the winners with 20 points on 6-of-7 three-point shooting and Jeffery Taylor added 15. Yogi Ferrell paced Buducnost with 20 points.
Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul 79-75 Dolomiti Energia Trento
Besiktas reached the eighthfinals after a dramatic home win over Trento enabled the Turkish team to finish fifth in Group A with a 10-8 record. Trento, which had earlier lost any chance of advancing into the business end of the competition, finished at 6-12 in what has been a patchy season for the Italian league leader. Derek Needham paced Besiktas on 17 points while Kyle Allman and Dustin Sleva chipped in with 12 each for the hosts, who nearly spilled a comfortable lead in a thrilling climax. At the other end, Jordan Ford carried Trento with a game-high 21 points.
ratiopharm Ulm 90-97 Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv
Hapoel locked up an automatic spot in the quarterfinals after rallying from 10 points down to beat Ulm and secure second place in Group A. The result also eliminated Ulm from the playoffs. Hapoel wasted a 10-point lead and trailed by 10 points with 8 minutes to go before mounting a 0-13 run and getting a dagger three-pointer from Yam Madar. The victory was the Israeli side’s sixth in the last seven games for a 12-6 record. Johnathan Motley scored 24 points and Marcus Foster and Madar both added 18 points for the winners. Ulm will miss the playoffs with a 9-9 record as the German side lost its final five games of the season. Justinian Jessup scored 18 points and Ben Saraf had 17 in the losing effort.
Aris Midea Thessaloniki 74-89 U-BT Cluj-Napoca
Cluj returned to the playoffs thanks to a road win at Aris. Cluj finished Group A with a 10-8 record, while Aris finished the regular season in a last place in the group with a 3-15 record. Cluj took control - and the lead - for good with a 0-13 second-quarter run and then broke the game wide open in the third quarter. DJ Seeley scored 16 of his 22 points in the first half for the winners and Zavier Simpson collected 13 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds. LJ Figueroa paced the hosts with 13 points in defeat.
Veolia Towers Hamburg 80-62 Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana
In a result that few saw coming, Hamburg ended up coasting to an 80-62 win over playoff-bound Cedevita Olimpija. Jaizec Lottie (17 points), Johnathan Stove (13) and Kur Kuath (10) combined for half of Hamburg’s points, with Cedevita not only trailing at the end of all four quarters but being outscored in each of them, too. The visitors’ leading scorers on the night were Aleksej Nikolic with 14 points, Gregor Glas with 12, and Brynton Lemar with 11.
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 76-66 Turk Telekom Ankara
Jerusalem overpowered Turk Telekom at Samokov Arena in Bulgaria to clinch second place in Group B and with it an automatic berth in the quarterfinals. The result gave Jerusalem an 11-7 record for the regular season, while Turk Telekom, which would have been second had it win, fell to 10-8 to finish in third place. <br> Jared Harper paced the winning attack with 21 points and 5 assists and Khadeen Carrington netted 17 points. Anthony Brown led Turk Telekom with 19 points and Speedy Smith tallied 5 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists against his former team.
Valencia Basket 100-98 Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse
Valencia came back from a 14-point deficit to pull out a narrow win over visiting Bourg. Valencia finished with a 16-2 record and will have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, while the loss eliminated Bourg, which finished with a 9-9 record in Group B. When the game tipped off, Bourg knew it needed to win to make the playoffs, and was firing on all cylinders in the first half. Valencia caught up in the third quarter, but Bourg spent most of the second half with a slim lead before Valencia pulled out the victory. Chris Jones led six Valencia scorers in double figures with 17 points and Stefan Jovic collected 10 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. For Bourg, Maksim Salash led the way with 18 points.
Joventut Badalona 69-56 Bahcesehir College Istanbul
Joventut finished its EuroCup season on a high note with a victory at home over Group A winner Bahcesehir. Joventut decided the game with a 14-0 run in the fourth quarter to improve to 7-11. Sam Dekker collected 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and Artem Pustovyi had 12 points for the Spanish side, which already had been eliminated weeks ago. Bahcesehir finished the regular season with a 14-4 record after having won five of the last six games. Tai Odiase paced Bahcesehir with 13 points.
Tuesday, February 4
Trefl Sopot 73-76 Dreamland Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria closed out the regular season with a tough win over Trefl. The victory improved the team's record to 12-6 and secured at least third place in Group A, with the chance to climb to second if Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv loses on Wednesday. A 0-13 run early in the first quarter gave Gran Canaria a double-digit lead that grew to 45-62 in the third, but a comeback built on a 25-3 run bridging the last 2 periods brought the game to the line. A deflection by Nico Brussino and a couple of free throws by Andrew Albicy closed the game in the last minute. With this defeat, Trefl closed its season with only one win in 18 rounds. Gran Canaria was led by Nico Brussino, who neared a triple-double with 12 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Geoffrey Groselle paced Trefl with 14 points.
Umana Reyer Venice 91-77 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys
Umana Reyer remained alive in the fight for the playoffs by battling past Lietkabelis in its last game of the regular season. Reyer wasted a 13-point first-quarter lead and only finished off the visitors in the closing quarter. The Italian club improved to 10-8 in Group B but now needs help on Wednesday to reach the post-season - needing either U-BT Cluj-Napoca or Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse to lose. Kyle Wiltjer scored a game-high 21 points in the win while Mfiondu Kabengele had 20 points and Reyer’s third Canadian Tyler Ennis totaled 19 points and 7 assists for a career-high performance index rating of 33. Lietkabelis, which had already been eliminated coming into the game, got 19 points from Martynas Varnas.