U-BT Cluj-Napoca earned a critical victory in its fight to make the 7DAYS EuroCup Playoffs by knocking off Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana 80-88 for its first road win. In a battle of teams sitting outside the playoff zone coming into the game, Andrija Stipanovic, Kasey Shepherd and new addition Jalen Jones all scored 14 points for Cluj, which improved to 4-7 in Group A with its second victory over Cedevita. Yogi Ferrell scored 27 points and Alen Omic had 10 points and 14 rebounds but they were not enough for Cedevita, which fell to 2-9.

Game News

Cluj started hot with 3 triples for a 2-12 lead. The guests did not slow down to lead 5-18 as Cedevita head coach Jurica Golemac needed a second timeout. After seeing the score go to 9-24, Cedevita played better defense but was still down 15-24 after 10 minutes.

Marko Jeremic’s four-point play got the hosts within 24-32 only to see Cluj move back up to 26-41. Cedevita fought back and held Cluj scoreless for the final 5:36 minutes of the first half to get the gap down to 34-41 at the break.

Game Videos

Cedevita continued the momentum and Ferrell’s triple tied the game 41-41. Karel Guzman’s three-pointer for Cluj ended the 15-0 run over 8:27 minutes and started a 0-8 spurt. The hosts raced back with 9 straight points on triples from Ferrell and Josh Adams to pull ahead 50-49. The lead switched hands five more times and Cluj was up 57-59 after 30 minutes.

Jones knocked down 2 triples early in the final quarter to help Cluj surge ahead 58-67. And a Shepherd layup made it a double-digit lead again 62-73 with under 5 minutes to play. Cedevita tried to get closer but only trimmed the deficit to 77-82 with 46 seconds to play. Lovro Gnjidic drained a long triple with 22 seconds left to trim it to 4 points but Patrick Richard and Nemanja Gordic both made free throws to finish it off.

Cluj downs Cedevita 80-88 for first road win

Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana v U-BT Cluj-Napoca (2023-01-18T19:30:00.000Z)

The London Lions looked unlikely to pull off a big win at Trento after a sluggish first half in which they committed 16 turnovers, but a valiant solo effort from forward Sam Dekker kept them alive before the visitors romped away in the final two quarters.

The 28-year-old hurt Trento from all angles, having sunk a pair of three-pointers while he also nailed slam-dunks, layups and some tough mid-range shots, including a delightful turnaround jumper.

Dekker, who finished with a game-high 23 points, was aided by center Kosta Koufos, who had a quiet first half but hit top gear after the break as he posted a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Tomislav Zubcic and Aaron Best also played key roles with 12 points apiece as did Tomislav Zubcic with 11, meaning that London simply had too much firepower for Trento. The home team was paced by Darion Atkins and Matteo Spagnolo on 13 points each and Diego Flaccadori added 11, but the supporting cast failed to deliver.

Crucially, London shot 9-for-19 from three-point range while Trento managed only 4-for-18, with the visitors also producing more assists (19-14) and rebounds (41-37).

Hence, the Lions were able to compensate for committing more turnovers (21-13) as they only gave the ball away 5 times in the second half. Strong defense by the visitors ground Trento’s offense to a halt after the break and the Italian team had nothing left in the tank down the stretch, as the Lions roared off into an 18-point lead in the dying minutes.

Fired-up Sam Dekker led London to smooth win at Trento 

Dolomiti Energia Trento v London Lions (2023-01-18T19:00:00.000Z)

London Lions celebrated their first-ever sweep in the 7DAYS EuroCup after a game-high 23 points from forward Sam Dekker helped them to an impressive 70-84 victory at Dolomiti Energia Trento. The result lifted London to 5-6 in Group B and boosted its hopes of reaching the playoffs, while Trento dropped to 2-9 after a lackluster second-half performance condemned the Italian side to a third successive loss.

Center Kosta Koufos added 14 points and 10 rebounds for London, while Aaron Best and Tomislav Zubcic chipped in with 12 points each. Darion Atkins and Aaron Best paced Trento with 13 points apiece and Diego Flaccadori added 11.

The opening stages of the first quarter served up a see-saw battle with the lead changing hands several times before a 15-4 run gave Trento a 24-14 lead, engineered by some fine perimeter shooting and a barrage of turnovers by London, which nonetheless slashed the deficit to 24-20 by the end of the first period.

The Lions scored the opening 5 points in the second quarter to reclaim the lead but Trento hit back with an 11-2 run to surge ahead again before the visitors closed the gap to 42-40 at halftime, thanks to a Jordan Taylor three-pointer on the buzzer.

Dekker, who had 14 points at halftime, played a major role in keeping London afloat in the first half, with the Lions trailing by only 2 points although they committed a staggering 16 turnovers through the opening two quarters.

The momentum changed for good after the break as Trento began to struggle in offense while Dekker kept tormenting the home team’s defense and was joined Koufos, who dominated the paint at both ends of the court.

With London leading 61-67 early in the fourth quarter, it was Best’s turn to take over the mantle as he nailed a pair of huge three-pointers to give the visitors a 12-point lead and they never looked back.

With Trento looking totally devoid of energy in the closing stages, London’s advantage soared to 63-81 before the home team narrowed it down in the last 2 minutes. However, Trento’s effort was too little too late to stop London from snapping a three-game losing streak.

The Lions, in contrast, will be overjoyed after bouncing back from last week’s tough home loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv, when they blew a 15-point lead in the 93-95 defeat. Having beaten Trento 80-75 at home in Round 2, Wednesday night’s victory gave London a sweet double ahead of decisive Group B clashes for a berth in the playoffs.

London roars past Trento 70-84 for first-ever season sweep

ratiopharm Ulm avenged its 80-76 defeat in Round 2 in routing 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys 78-69 at ratiopharm Arena on Wednesday night. The final single-digit advantage was not a synonym for a close game, though, as the home team enjoyed comfortable leads for most of the evening.

Key runs at the beginning of the first and the third periods were decisive for Ulm. It started the game strong by outscoring Lietkabelis 17-2 in the first 6 minutes and punished its opponent with a 13-2 score in the first 5 minutes right after the break. That proved enough to contain the visitors, who were as close as 40-38 late in the second quarter. 

"We wanted to put an emphasis on how we started the game and the third quarter, to do it well, which in the last games we didn’t do," Ulm’s head coach Anton Gavel admitted in the press conference. "We wanted to show a different face than we showed in the last domestic games. It’s something that I think we did well tonight."

Strong starts sparked Ulm past Lietkabelis

ratiopharm Ulm v 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys (2023-01-18T18:45:00.000Z)

### London Lions head coach Ryan Schmidt:

"I was really happy with our guys’ performance, mainly in the second half. I thought in the first half they had us on our heels, they are a very good defensive team, the way they impede on you was disruptive to us. We had to make some adjustments at halftime. To be honest, it was a little bit different last week in the game against Tel Aviv when a lot of fouls were being called, whereas the referees allowed a lot more physicality this week. It took its toll on us and resulted in 16 turnovers \[in the first half\]. You’re not going to beat a good team when you turn the ball over that much so to be down by 2 at halftime the way we were playing, I thought we were in a good position.

"We had to be better in taking care of the ball and again, I thought we saw that in the second half. Jordan Taylor really imposed his will on the game to start the third quarter right away. We started knocking down some shots, we opened up our offense quite a bit and I thought our defensive presence, especially in the fourth quarter, helped us get some stops and open up the lead. Any time you can come on the road and get a win in the EuroCup competition, it’s huge. It’s a tough one because if you look at \[Trento’s\] season, they had two really big wins here against Gran Canaria and Milan, so we knew it was going to be a tough battle.

"We’re still playing kind of a seven-to-eight-man rotation as we are missing so many guys, hopefully, we will start getting them back soon. 

But again I think we are trending in the right direction and we’ve got to keep going. 

"\[Dekker\] was upset \[at halftime\] and again, I think that’s where we’ve got to be better. I like the physicality defensively, we kind of embraced that as there is a little bit of contrast in the two games. Last week a lot of those were being called fouls whereas this week reminded me a lot more of the first nine games from the refereeing standpoint. Because the whistle wasn’t blowing led to some frustration that shouldn’t have shown. Credit to \[Trento\], I think you could tell their game plan was to be defensively physical and try to push us off our spots, not allow any easy opportunities or just to get open. We kind of regrouped at halftime and said ‘hey listen, 20 minutes have gone by, we’ve seen what they are calling and we’ve seen what they are allowing and now we’ve got to adapt’."

### Dolomiti Energia Trento head coach Emanuele Molin:

"Congratulations to London, they played a really excellent second half. That’s something we cannot say about my team, after competing for 25 minutes we lost energy. We lost focus and played terribly the last 15 minutes. In the second half, we shot 1-for-8 from the three-point line, we had just 4 assists and we committed 8 turnovers. Too much to compete at this level and I think that’s the reason we lost the game."

### London Lions forward Sam Dekker:

"At halftime, I said we needed to respond to their physicality with energy and that’s what we did. We came out and threw the first punch, not literally, but we threw the first punch in the second half and it was good to see us respond to a tough first half.

"We didn’t turn the ball over nearly as much in the second half. We had a 15-point lead last week against Tel Aviv the whole game and we blew it at the end. Together we said we’re not going to lose this game, we were swinging together and I am proud of this team. The coach had a great game plan, it’s a big win for us and we’ve got to carry this over into next week."

Sam Dekker, London: 'I am proud of this team'

### ratiopharm Ulm head coach Anton Gavel:

"I think we started both halves very well, in the first quarter and the third quarter. It’s something we put an emphasis on. I think we allowed only 11 points in the third quarter, which is very important, and we built our lead. I think we still have to be able to be better in managing the game and finish it earlier, but we are happy with the win.

"We wanted to put an emphasis on how we started the game and the third quarter, to do it well, which in the last games we didn’t do. I mean, we wanted to show a different face than we showed in the last domestic games. It’s something that I think we did well tonight. We got 23 free throws, we attacked the paint, we still had more threes than twos, which is something I wouldn’t like but we were still able to attack the paint. We reduced the turnovers in the second half, we had 10 in the first and just 4 in the second so we can be happy about that, we rebounded the ball pretty well, we matched their physicality that hurt us in game 1. We are happy that we were able to win the game."

### 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys head coach Nenad Canak:

"Congratulations to Ulm, today they were better in all those things in basketball. They did what we missed, we didn’t run back, we didn’t play one-on-one defense, we didn’t follow the rules about the individual characteristics of their players, and of course, if you don’t follow that and you don’t follow the game plan also, if you don’t have transition defense, if you don’t rebound - they got 14 offensive boards, it is too much. If you don’t do the things we didn’t do today, you don’t deserve to win."

### ratiopharm Ulm head center Bruno Caboclo:

"I’m feeling better \[in my second game in the Eurocup\]. I had to make some adjustments. I was getting in foul trouble in the beginning of the games, that changed my game, but today I could hold off the fouls and helped more my team. I think we stopped their transition well. We were struggling a little bit in the beginning of the games with our scoring and stops but today we did it very well."

Anton Gavel, Ulm: 'We attacked the paint'

ratiopharm Ulm enjoyed a peaceful 78-69 win over visiting 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys at Ratiopharm Arena on Wednesday night. The hosts used a 17-2 opening run to take charge and outscored the opponent 22-11 in the third quarter to confirm the outcome. Ulm improved to 6-5 and Lietkabelis dropped to 4-7 and remained winless on the road.

 

Yago Dos Santos led all scorers with 21 points, plus 6 rebounds and 8 assists for a PIR of 30. Bruno Caboclo followed with 12 points and 9 rebounds and David Fuchs contributed 10 and 5 for the winners. Jamel Morris scored 16 points in 19 minutes for Lietkabelis.

The hosts had a strong start and held Lietkabelis scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the game, as three-pointers by Thomas Klepeisz, Brandon Paul and Dos Santos helped Ulm build an early double-digit lead that Caboclo soon extended to 17-2. Although Morris tried to revitalize the visitors, Ulm’s backcourt kept punishing the rim and the distance remained big, 27-13, after 10 minutes. 

The visitors improved after the break and found some offensive momentum through Paulius Marauskas and Benas Griciunas to reduce the gap to 32-24 midway through the second period. Ulm tried to get back on the good track by restoring its starting five on court, but turnovers prevented it and Lietkabelis trimmed the deficit to 43-38 at halftime.

Caboclo’s work inside and a couple of triples by Paul returned a safe double-digit advantage to Ulm, 55-40, early in the third quarter. Lietkabelis ended a 5-minute scoring drought with a layup by Vytenis Lipkevicius, but the scoring remained elusive for the guests’ offense. Free throws by Dos Santos and Fedor Zugic, plus a buzzer-beater slam by Fuchs made it 65-49 entering the last stanza. 

A three-point play by Joshua Hawley increased the difference to 17 points early in the fourth period, as Lietkabelis kept unsuccessfully trying to come back from behind the arc. The visitors’ frontcourt produced some buckets inside to alleviate Lietkabelis’s offensive struggles, but Ulm needed just a couple of long-distance shots by Dos Santos and Robin Christen to seta 74-58 advantage that iced the game with 3 minutes to go.

Ulm controls Lietkabelis at home, 78-69

J'Covan Brown made 7DAYS EuroCup history on Wednesday night. In leading its Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv to a 95-79 win over the visiting Paris Basketball, Brown tied the single-game competition record with 16 assists.

The 32-year-old point guard tied a mark set by Omar Cook, who had 16 assists on November 19, 2014, when he led Buducnost VOLI Podgorica to an 87-69 victory over Ventspils.

The Hapoel playmaker tied the EuroCup record in only his ninth career appearance since he is playing in his first season in the competition. Brown already had 10 assists at halftime, and then had 4 more in the third quarter. At that point, Brown had 14 assists and 0 turnovers with Hapoel holding a comfortable lead.

Brown tied the mark with 3:21 left in the game, when Tomer Ginat made a free throw after drawing a foul on a layup that Brown set him up for, allowing Brown to enter the EuroCup record books. He was aware of how close he was to setting the record in the closing minutes, but came up short.

"It is actually harder to get \[the record\] when everybody's in your ear telling you to do it," Brown said. "If they wouldn't have told me, just let me keep play, I would've got it."

<center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What a performance 👏<br><br>How may Brown assist you tonight?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoadToGreatness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoadToGreatness</a> <a href="https://t.co/LZpl0qTzdP">pic.twitter.com/LZpl0qTzdP</a></p>&mdash; 7DAYS EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1615821229432213504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hapoel's J'Covan Brown ties the EuroCup assists record

Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv v Paris Basketball (2023-01-18T18:00:00.000Z)

 Buducnost survived scare with late aggressiveness 

It was a tale of two halves on Wednesday as Buducnost VOLI Podgorica rallied to down pesky Slask Wroclaw 82-71 avoid avoid a potential step-back in the Group B standings.

Buducnost could do nothing right in the first half, after which it trailed 29-33 to the same team it had beaten by 40 points on the road back in Round 2. Not only had that been Slask's worst loss ever in the competition, but it was also the worst by any 7DAYS EuroCup team in more than five seasons.

In the first half, however, Slask out-shot its hosts 1-4 from the three-point arc and 6-9 at the foul line while holding its own (21-20) against the league's top rebounders. 

"Buducnost is going to come out more aggressive in the second half and we have to match their energy," visiting head coach Andrej Urlep predicted at halftime.

His team still held a 49-51 edge going into the final minute of the third quarter, but that's when Buducnost struck. A 9-0 run quickly stretched to 21-5, giving the hosts a sudden 70-56 lead from which Slask could not recover.  Guards Tre Bell-Haynes and Petar Popovic accounted for 13 of those points.

Having missed 14 of its first 15 three-point tries, Buducnost found the mark on 4 in the last 14 minutes and used 10 second-half offensive rebounds and 11 total steals, of which Popovic had 4, to tilt the balance.

The turnaround lifted Buducnost into a three-way tie for third place at 7-4, just one victory away from second place, setting up an interesting battle going forward near the top of Group B.

Buducnost survived scare with late aggressiveness

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica v Slask Wroclaw (2023-01-18T17:30:00.000Z)