Before Tuesday, the last time that Dolomiti Energia Trento had won consecutive BKT EuroCup games was on March 3, 2021.
Near-perfect game by Ellis broke another spell for Trento
On Tuesday night, Dolomiti Energia Trento's 101-96 overtime victory against visiting Turk Telekom Ankara, which followed an equally thrilling 92-93 win in Panevezys, Lithuania, against 7bet-Lietkabelis, meant the Italian club had its first EuroCup winning streak in more than two full seasons.
In both games, Trento had to wait till the very end to confirm the outcome, and both times it found a main weapon in 20-year-old combo guard Quinn Ellis.
A week ago, Ellis became the hero for Trento when he recorded a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double and scored the winning basket on a floater that landed with just 4 seconds left to play. That ended Trento's 24-game road losing streak in the EuroCup.
Against Turk Telekom, Ellis went even further, finishing with career highs in points (21), rebounds (6), three-pointers made (4), steals (2) and PIR (31). He did all that in less than 22 minutes on the court.
Most remarkably, Ellis didn't miss a single shot the whole game. He made both of his two-pointers, 4 of 4 triples and 5 of 5 free throws. He added 3 assists and 2 steals against just 1 turnover.
Ellis's near-perfect performance was not only about stats, though. Crucially, he forced an unsportsmanlike foul that turned into a five-point possession and an 99-93 lead for Trento with 1:14 left overtime. When Turk Telekom later pulled within 99-96, Ellis sealed the outcome by making 2 perfect free throws with 8 seconds remaining.
The victory has special meaning for Trento, which had missed the joy of chaining together victories for far too long.
"[It's so important] to finally win two straight in the EuroCup, for Trento, after so many years," head coach Paolo Galbiati said after the game. "I'm very happy for all the people around the club."
With two milestones in as many games out of the way now, Coach Galbiati is setting his sights on Trento also ending a drought of two years without surviving the EuroCup Regular Season.
"We must set ourselves the objective of advancing from the group; I am convinced of it, I have been saying it since day one," Galbiati said. "We must go on the court and give everything we have, with the ambition to be able to compete in every match. Today, we made many mistakes, but we went beyond those mistakes."