Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul took to the Palau Olimpic de Badalona court to face Joventut Badalona with two important absences. The Turkish side was missing captain Egehan Arna as well as summer signing Matt Mitchell, both of whom are sidelined through injuries. Things got worse for the guests just a minute and a half into the second quarter when Yannick Kraag accidentally elbowed Besiktas star Derek Needham, who was taken to the locker room to receive medical assistance. According to Besiktas head coach Dusan Alimpijevic, Needham suffered a broken nose. He did not return for the remainder of the game.

Besiktas overcame injuries to triumph at Joventut

Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul took to the Palau Olimpic de Badalona court [to face Joventut Badalona](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/eurocup/game-center/2023-24/joventut-badalona-besiktas-emlakjet-istanbul/U2023/5/) with two important absences. The Turkish side was missing captain Egehan Arna as well as summer signing Matt Mitchell, both of whom are sidelined through injuries. Things got worse for the guests just a minute and a half into the second quarter when Yannick Kraag accidentally elbowed Besiktas star Derek Needham, who was taken to the locker room to receive medical assistance. According to Besiktas head coach Dusan Alimpijevic, Needham suffered a broken nose. He did not return for the remainder of the game.

With the score at 23-17, Besiktas didn’t give up and played even harder on defense, fought for all possessions and dominated in the paint. As Alimpijevic pointed out after the game, this win would be dedicated to their teammates who couldn’t fight alongside them on the court.

Coach Dusan Alimpijevic after beating Joventut

"The players deserved this incredible end," he noted. "We came without two players. This win is for our captain Egehan \[Arna\], who stayed at home, this is for Matt Mitchell, for Derek Needham, who broke his nose. This is something really special and emotional for us."

The bench contributed 28 points and although Besiktas was trailing for 35 minutes, its players waited for an opportunity to turn the game around and put their team ahead. They held the hosts scoreless for more than 3 minutes in the closing stages and snatched a huge road victory thanks to a Leyton Hammonds game-winning basket in their last possession.

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tr" dir="ltr">Maç sonu galibiyet pozumuz! 📸💪<br><br>Egehan Arna ve Derek Needham için. 🙏<br><br>🦅 <a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/Potan%C4%B1nKartallar%C4%B1?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#PotanınKartalları</a> | <a href=https://twitter.com/hashtag/Be%C5%9Fikta%C5%9FEmlakjet?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#BeşiktaşEmlakjet</a> <a href=https://t.co/lPp8H1q9MS>pic.twitter.com/lPp8H1q9MS</a></p>&mdash; Beşiktaş Emlakjet (@BJK_Basketbol) <a href=https://twitter.com/BJK_Basketbol/status/1709671837569847553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>October 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset="utf-8"></script>

"This was a team fight," said Berkan Durmaz, who posted 10 points and 10 rebounds. "We played for each other. When we made mistakes, we tried to cover our teammates. We are so happy that we started the season this way away at Badalona. We played for Egehan Arna, our captain, who got hurt two days ago, Derek, who injured his nose and Matt, who was out too. We fought for them, we fought for each other and we won the game."

Despite playing without three important members of the roster for around three quarters, an inspired Besiktas came out victorious from one of the toughest courts in the competition. When the three men return to action, they are aware that they have what it takes to look any BKT EuroCup opponent in the eye.

Joventut Badalona v Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul (2023-10-04T18:15:00.000Z)

Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul looked solid on defense after a slow start to the game and hit the ground running in the BKT EuroCup by snatching a huge 62-63 victory at Palau Olimpic De Badalona on Wednesday night.

Besiktas's defense went up one level to stun Joventut

The visitors managed to keep an experienced Joventut Badalona side to just 62 points despite conceding 20 in the first quarter. Besiktas upped its defensive game in the second quarter and conceded just 9 points in the last one to seal its comeback.

Last year’s semifinalists had not scored fewer than 80 points in any of their regular-season duels at home and bagged more than 68 points in all their EuroCup duels in 2022-23. In fact, the last time that Joventut scored just 62 points was in a 62-68 home loss to ALBA Berlin back in 2010, which was Joventut’s lowest score ever in a home game. It has to be noted that Joventut has scored fewer than 62 points just twice in the competition - in a 64-56 defeat at Spirou Charleroi two decades ago and an 84-54 loss at Aris Thessaloniki back in 2010.

Besiktas hounded Joventut on defense

Following his players’ triumph on Wednesday night, Coach Dusan Alimpijevic hailed his men’s dedication on defense and pointed out that the key to this victory was their passion on the court.

"Just the heart \[was the key to the win\]," Alimpijevic noted. "When you keep such great offensive players to just 62 points at home, what else can I say? Heart and good effort on defense. Congratulations to my players. I’m so proud of them."

Game News

Despite struggling to score second-chance points, Besiktas recorded 14 offensive boards and outrebounded the hosts 41-35. These figures demonstrate his players' fighting mentality in the paint, where Berkan Durmaz and Yigit Arslan dominated with 8 and 7 defensive rebounds, respectively.

Besiktas's defense on the perimeter saw Joventut make just 2 of the 16 triples its players attempted. This 12.5% mark from behind the arc was Joventut’s second-worst three-point shooting percentage of all time in the competition.

Should Besiktas exhibit the same die-hard spirit on defense consistently, it may be able to deliver similar astonishing results throughout the campaign.

Game Videos

Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul looked solid on defense after a slow start to the game and hit the ground running in the BKT EuroCup by snatching a huge 62-63 victory at Palau Olimpic de Badalona on Wednesday night.

The London Lions opened the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season without star power forward Sam Dekker. Donte Grantham, in his first-ever game in the competition, stepped into that role and made sure it was a night to be remembered.

Donte Grantham's first-ever EuroCup game is a hit

The London Lions opened the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season without star power forward Sam Dekker. Grantham, in his first-ever game in the competition, stepped into that role and made sure it was a night to be remembered.

Grantham did so while squaring off against his former college teammate, Aamir Simms. The two played together at Clemson University during the 2017-18 season. 

Donte Grantham led London Lions to a 76-69 win over difficult Umana Reyer Venice in both teams' season opener.

Grantham excels in London's first win

He had a sudden impact on the game, scoring 5 quick points to give London an 11-8 lead. Reyer led most of the way after that and built a double-digit margin, 40-51, early in the second half. That's when Grantham stepped up with consecutive baskets, igniting his team's comeback, and finished it with a dunk that gave London a 63-61 edge with less than 7 minutes remaining. Gabe Olaseni and Tarik Phillip stepped up in crunch time but London would have never stood a chance to win the game without Grantham's effort.

When the dust settled, Grantham had led the way with 23 points on 7-of-7 free-throw shooting plus 7 rebounds and 5 fouls drawn for a PIR of 25. Above all, he made sure that Dekker was not missed in London's big home win.

"I have to credit my teammates finding me," Grantham said after the game. "I just have been aggressive from the start. It was my first game and I just wanted to set the tone. This allows me to get confidence. I am a guy that does everything, and I just try to impact the game in different ways."

Grantham proved to be a big addition for London, which is set to play five of its next six games on the road.

Donte Grantham led London to a 76-69 win over Reyer in Round 1 on Wednesday. 

London Lions v Umana Reyer Venice (2023-10-04T18:30:00.000Z)

Buducnost reacted fiercely and punished its opponent with an 18-1 run to enter the fourth quarter leading 53-50 and finished winning 76-65 after outscoring Lietkabelis 41-16 in the last 16 minutes of the game.

Buducnost simply suffocated Lietkabelis in the second half 

"We need to stop their offensive rebound, we need to stop their open shots," Buducnost VOLI Podgorica head coach Petar Mijovic said at halftime when his team had allowed 14 offensive rebounds and had been outrebounded 16-29 overall against visiting 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys. The result was a 31-38 deficit at that moment, which doubled, to 35-49, early in the third period.

His team didn’t give up, though, and followed Mijovic's instructions. Buducnost reacted fiercely and punished its opponent with an 18-1 run to enter the fourth quarter leading 53-50 and finished winning 76-65 after outscoring Lietkabelis 41-16 in the last 16 minutes of the game.

The Buducnost improvement came from the places Mijovic pointed out at halftime. First, the hosts managed to secure their defensive glass and didn’t allow a single offensive rebound to the visiting team. Overall, Buducnost outrebounded Lietkabelis 19-13 in the second half, which was one of the keys that took it out of rhythm.

And second, the hosts locked in on perimeter defense and controlled much better Lietkabelis's scorers. As such, the visitors got just 9 field goals in the second half - five two-pointers and 4 threes - from 24 attempts (37.5%).

Many of Lietkabelis's offenses in the second half could not even finish with a shot, as Buducnost forced 12 turnovers in that period, which destroyed its opponent's confidence step by step. The result was a 7-1 balance in fastbreak points at the end of the game, as well as a 19-12 advantage in points off turnovers.

"When we were minus 14… we played again very good defense, from this defense we made some easy points in transition which was really important and necessary for our team," Mijovic stressed in the press conference.

Obviously, he was happy with the result, especially because his team had held Lietkabelis to only 65 points. 

"We played against a really talented team, that played three games already in their national championship and in all of them, they were on 90 points or more."

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica v 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys (2023-10-04T17:00:00.000Z)

In its second BKT EuroCup campaign, U-BT Cluj-Napoca had a very different start to the season. Cluj opened the 2022-23 EuroCup Regular Season with three consecutive losses. This time, playing in front of 6,000 fans at BT-Arena, Cluj beat Turk Telekom Ankara 80-71. Some of its newcomers made things happen and allowed Cluj to down last season's runner-up.

Newcomers led Cluj to first win

Cluj opened the 2022-23 EuroCup Regular Season with three consecutive losses. This time, playing in front of 6,000 fans at BT-Arena, Cluj beat Turk Telekom Ankara 80-71. Some of its newcomers made things happen and allowed Cluj to down last season's runner-up.

Cluj led from start to finish, going on a 12-0 opening run and boosting its margin to 28-14 after 10 minutes and then again to 50-23 near halftime. Bryce Jones and Adam Mokoka came off the bench and made things happen early in the second quarter and Jarell Eddie's first three-pointer gave Cluj its biggest lead of the night.

D.J. Seeley, Bryce Jones, Jarell Eddie and Adam Mokoka make things happens in Round 1.

Cluj's newcomers make the difference

Turk Telekom was far from done and returned to the game, trimming its deficit to 61-58 with 8 minutes remaining. Eddie did what he does best, pull the trigger from downtown, then Jones had 8 quick points, including his own triple and a wild layup-plus-foul, to restore a double-digit advantage for Cluj and eventually win the game.

Jones showcased his one-on-one skills, finishing the game with 14 points and 5 assists. D.J. Seeley, a well-rounded veteran in his first season with Cluj, proved to be a reliable scoring option at all times and ended up with 12 points. Mokoka had 7 points in 14 minutes and Eddie struck three times from beyond the arc, the last one to stop Turk Telekom's comeback down the stretch.

Cluj kept a core of players led by Andrija Stipanovic, Karel Guzman and Patrick Richards, but its newcomers have given head coach Mihai Silvasan plenty of new options on offense. That has translated right away into a first home win against a top contender, which allows Cluj to be more ambitious after missing the playoffs last season.

"It is our first victory and we need to move forward," Silvasan said after the game. "It is just one victory, our goals are much higher than that."

In its second BKT EuroCup campaign, U-BT Cluj-Napoca jumped out to a very different start to the season that its first.

U-BT Cluj-Napoca v Turk Telekom Ankara (2023-10-04T16:00:00.000Z)

Short-handed visitors edge Joventut on Hammonds's jumper with 2.9 seconds remaining

Besiktas takes thriller at Joventut, 62-63

Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul stunned Joventut Badalona in Round 1 of the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup campaign by snatching a 62-63 road victory. Leyton Hammonds silenced the home crowd with a game-winning basket in an entertaining duel at Palau Olimpic De Badalona. Besiktas lost its star, Derek Needham, to a broken nose in the second quarter.

Yigit Arslan led Besiktas with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Berkan Durmaz recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, with Angel Delgado pairing his 8 points with 7 boards. Andrew Andrews paced Joventut with 10 points, while Pau Ribas and Yannick Kraag registered 9 each.

### Hosts start strong and nurse slim lead

Joventut started strong on defense, holding Besiktas scoreless for 3 minutes. The hosts went on a 6-0 run, but Leyton Hammonds sank a buzzer-beating triple to make it 6-3. The Spanish side bounced back and scored 5 unanswered points, with Andrews setting up a Guillem Vives three-pointer after scoring a layup. A Ribas mid-range shot gave Joventut a double-digit lead, 16-5. Despite missing its first 5 free throws, Besiktas bounced back and trimmed down the deficit to 17-10 thanks to a Berk Ugurlu three-pointer and an Arslan layup. Another Ribas basket handed Joventut a 20-14 lead heading into the second quarter.

Besiktas was dealt a major blow early in the second quarter when Yannick Kraag accidentally elbowed Needham, who suffered a broken nose. Despite losing its star, Besiktas showed character, with Jonah Mathews stepping up, scoring his first basket and converting a free throw to get the deficit down to 25-23. Arslan scored behind the arc to take his tally to 10 points and Ugurlu added a basket for a 28-28 tie. Chinanu Onuaku and Ribas scored a jumper each as Joventut took a 35-29 lead, But Besiktas responded with Ugurlu sinking two from the line and Delgado scoring his second basket in the game to keep Besiktas within 35-33 at halftime.

The game turned into a basket-for-basket affair in the opening stages of the third quarter, with Delgado taking advantage of two Joventut turnovers to get within 40-39. The hosts played more aggressively on defense in the last 3 minutes of the third quarter and forced Besiktas into making some poor decisions on offense. Thomas came to the fore, scoring two tough baskets to help his team secure a narrow 53-49 lead heading into the last quarter.

### Besiktas guts it out down the stretch

Jonah Mathews scored back-to-back baskets to level the scoreboard at 53-53 but the experienced Ribas stepped up, sinking a crucial three-pointer to offer his teammates a boost in morale. Hammonds responded from deep, but Tomic scored his second basket in the game to maintain a 58-56 edge. Besiktas got its first lead in the game with 5:08 left on the clock after an Arslan triple from the corner, 58-59.

Tomic bagged 2 easy points from the paint to restore Joventut’s 1-point lead. Nerves took over at both ends and the two teams missed some easy baskets, going scoreless for over 3 minutes. Durmaz put Besiktas ahead, 60-61, with 1:20 remaining, but Vives threw up a floater to give Joventut the lead. Besiktas made the most of its last possession, as Hammonds sank the game-winning jumper with 2.9 seconds left on the clock. Thomas didn’t manage to convert from behind the arc and the visitors celebrated a huge road victory in Spain.

London Lions had a strong start of the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season by downing Umana Reyer Venice 76-69 at The Copperbox Arena in Group A on Wednesday. 


London outlasts Reyer at home, 76-69!

London rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat Reyer 76-69 in both teams' season opener. Donte Grantham led the winners with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Gabe Olaseni added 10 points for London. Amedeo Tessitori was Reyer's top scorer with 16 points. Marco Spissu and Aamir Simms each had 10 for the visitors. 

Tessitori got Reyer going early and Rayjon Tucker struck from downtown for a 7-8 lead. Phillip scored in penetration and Olaseni downed a jumper, giving London an 11-8 edge. Tessitori and Spissu fueled a 0-9 run that made it 11-17 lead. Tessitori dunked and fed Jordan Parks for a fastbreak slam to help Reyer boost its margin to 17-25 after 10 minutes.

Grantham followed a wild three-point play with a fastbreak layup in a 0-8 run that Luke Nelson added with a triple for a 25-25 tie. Phillip's driving layup soon put London in charge, 30-28. Simms and Spissu each struck from downtown to put Reyer back in charge, 38-41, at halftime. 

Spissu and Parks kept pacing the visitors after the break and Jeff Brooks's three-pointer made it a double-digit game, 42-51. Grantham and Matthew Morgan stepped up for London and Sharma's alley-oop dunk gave the hosts hope, 54-56, after 30 minutes.

Grantham's dunk put London back in charge, 63-61, with over 6 minutes left. Olaseni scored his team's 6 points but Tucket kept Reyer within 70-69 already in the final minute. Morgan and Phillip were ice cold from the foul line to seal the outcome down the stretch.

London Lions had a strong start to the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season by downing Umana Reyer Venice 76-69 at The Copperbox Arena in Group A on Wednesday. 


London outlasts Reyer at home, 76-69

Dreamland Gran Canaria showed in two quarters just how strong the defending BKT EuroCup champion can be with AJ Slaughter providing the knockout punch in the fourth quarter. 

Slaughter, Gran Canaria finish off Aris in fourth quarter 

Dreamland Gran Canaria showed in two quarters just how strong the defending BKT EuroCup champion can be with AJ Slaughter providing the knockout punch in the fourth quarter.

After giving up 28 points in the first 10 minutes, Gran Canaria allowed just 7 points in the second quarter and closed the game in Greece by conceding just 11 points in the final frame in a 66-82 victory in Group B.

“The second quarter and last quarter we made some great defensive plays. We found open shots because Aris was giving us shots. Our shooters made the shots,” said Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic, whose team made 14-of-29 three-pointers (48.3%).

Aris fought back at the end of the third quarter and actually took the lead. The Spanish side answered with a three-pointer to close the quarter and reclaim the lead. Gran Canaria then scored the first 14 points of the fourth quarter for a 55-71 cushion that decided the game.

The 36-year-old Slaughter was key to the final push. He scored 9 points in the first 30 minutes and then buried 3 three-pointers and 3 free throws for 12 fourth-quarter points to go with an assist.

Still, being ever the leader, Slaughter deflected the individual attention afterwards.

"We picked it up defensively \[in the fourth quarter\]. We really played how we wanted to play the full game. Andrew Albicy really did a great job on the point guards. We did it as a team and we are happy with the win to start the EuroCup season off," said Slaughter, who is playing in his third season with the club.

Coach Lakovic said another key was his team dealing with the fans at the Nikos Galis Hall.

"We talked about the atmosphere… and I knew that Aris has been waiting for this game for seven years," said the coach, referring to Aris playing in the EuroCup for the first time since the 2015-16 season. "We wanted to match the intensity of Aris on the court and we did a good job."

Aris Midea Thessaloniki v Dreamland Gran Canaria (2023-10-04T17:00:00.000Z)

Prometey Slobozhanske was second in the EuroCup in scoring last season as it averaged 88.5 points per game in the regular season. Despite some significant roster turnover during the offseason, Coach Ronen Ginzburg's men are just as lethal, if not more so, at the start of the 2023-24 campaign. On Wednesday, Prometey plastered Veolia Towers Hamburg 97-77.

New faces, same style for Prometey Slobozhanske

Prometey Slobozhanske was second in the EuroCup in scoring last season as it averaged 88.5 points per game in the regular season. Despite some significant roster turnover during the offseason, Coach Ronen Ginzburg's men are just as lethal, if not more so, at the start of the 2023-24 campaign. On Wednesday, Prometey plastered Veolia Towers Hamburg 97-77.

The Ukrainian club, which plays its home games at Arena Riga in the Lithuanian capital due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, started with a bang by scoring 35 first-quarter points and set a club record with 54 first-half points. It had 52 at halftime in Round 14 last season against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana.    

Prometey seemed on pace to rewrite the record book after 10 minutes. It made 5 of 7 three-pointers in the opening quarter and already led by 20. However, that pace proved impossible to keep up.

"In the second quarter, I think we got a little lackadaisical after starting the first quarter, and they punched us in the mouth and we just had to regroup at halftime to get the win tonight," explained point guard Marcus Keene, who led the charge with 19 points and 6 assists.   

Despite several rallies by visiting Hamburg, the lead was never seriously threatened and one of the main reasons for the team's success, according to Coach Ginzburg, was his team's depth.

Eleven different Prometey players scored and took at least 1 rebound. The only player who did not was forward Andrii Voinalovych, who was only on the floor for 82 seconds. Ten players dished at least 1 assist. Likewise ten players features for at least 13 minutes and no one played more than the 25:35 that center Ondrej Balvin spent on the court.

It all proved to be a winning recipe for Prometey, which after reaching the semifinals last season, started this campaign on the right foot.

Prometey Slobozhanske started the season in style with a 35-point first quarter!

New faces, same style for Prometey 

Prometey Slobozhanske v Veolia Towers Hamburg (2023-10-04T16:00:00.000Z)