### Vladimir Jovanovic, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica head coach

"The second half was like a copy and paste of the first. We started soft, with low energy, without \[executing on\] defense. They scored almost 10 points in a row in one moment, and after that we had to find players from the bench who will bring energy on the court."

### Marko Jagodic-Kuridza, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica forward

"It's very important for us to win this game because we had a bad loss a couple of days ago \[in the ABA League against Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade\]. We had to show ourselves and step up and win when it is not easy to win, because we have some injured players and a small rotation \[tonight\]. It's tough, but in the end, we won and that's the important thing."

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### Emanuele Molin, Dolomiti Energia Trento head coach

"In the second half we played with more patience – we had less turnovers – but with a roster so short, we struggled any time we had some stops. Congratulations to Buducnost because they played a consistent game. We knew before that it would be a tough game. We fought for 40 minutes, we stayed close with the score until 10 minutes to go, and I think my team has done a good job."

Jagodic-Kuridza, Buducnost: 'We had to step up and win tonight'

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica v Dolomiti Energia Trento (2022-12-07T18:30:00.000Z)

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica moved to the top of the Group B standings on Wednesday night after beating Dolomiti Energia Trento at Moraca Sports Center.

Marko Jagodic-Kuridza had a game-high 20 points for the hosts, while Igor Drobnjak and Petar Popovic also got into double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Alpha Kaba only had 7 points for Buducnost, but he had a dominant night on the glass, finishing with 16 rebounds. Trento had Darion Atkins score 16 points, Trent Lockett contribute 14, Diego Flaccadori add 12 and Toto Forray chip in with 10, yet it was not enough as the visitors fell to a 73-58 defeat.

Trento made a good start to the game, led by 5 points from Atkins to open a 0-5 lead. Buducnost began to fight back, but then Lockett stepped up for the Italians with 7 points. Flaccadori and Andrejs Grazulis helped Trento go 10-18 ahead, but what followed was a 27-4 run between the end of the first quarter and seven minutes into the second, which put Buducnost up 37-22. Trento looked to respond, but it went into the break trailing 42-29, thanks in part to 11 second-quarter points by Jagodic-Kuridza. The visitors opened the third quarter with a 0-11 run to cut the gap to two points, 42-40, but 5 points from Jagodic-Kuridza gave Buducnost some breathing room once again. There was an eight-point difference, 54-46, entering the fourth quarter. While Buducnost extended it out to 12, 58-46, inside the first 47 seconds, Trento hit back with eight straight points to make things interesting at 58-54 with just under six minutes remaining. However, that's when Drobnjak came to the fore, scoring 10 of his 15 points in the final stages of the game to ensure that Buducnost came away with the win to improve to 5-2. Trento recorded its first victory of the season last week, but this defeat means that it is now 1-6 on the season.

Buducnost found another gear to down Trento, 73-58

Coming off his joint-lowest scoring game of the season, 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys guard and leading scorer Jamel Morris had only 7 points at the midway point of the fourth quarter. Perhaps not coincidentally, his team was trailing Germani Brescia 66-68 at that point.

And then Morris took charge. He scored 6 points and dished 2 assists in a 13-2 run to close out the game. Morris first drained a go-ahead three-pointer. He showed aggressive effort with a foul on the next play. After a timeout, Morris’s pass set up Vytenis Lipkevicius for a three-pointer. Lipkevicius was fouled on the shot and sank the resulting three free throws.

Gabrielis Maldunas put Lietkabelis up by 6 entering the final 2 minutes and then Morris went to work again. He grabbed a rebound on one end and drew a foul on the other. He sank his free throws plus an extra one courtesy of a technical foul on the Brescia bench. Morris put the finishing touches on the game with an assist to Maldunas that made it 79-69.  

He finished the game with a team-high 13 points plus 5 assists and 1 steal. Even though the effort lowered his season scoring average to 16.1 points per game, that’s not what will be remembered. The important thing for Lietkabelis is that with the game in the balance in the fourth quarter, Morris was willing and able to take control and keep his team undefeated at home this season.

Morris lifted Lietkablis when he was needed most 

7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys v Germani Brescia (2022-12-07T17:00:00.000Z)

Gran Canaria sent a message that echoed all around the 7DAYS EuroCup by downing Turk Telekom Ankara 81-88 in the Turkish capital. An outstanding first half made the difference for Gran Canaria.

The visitors led 37-55 at halftime, dominating almost every aspect of the game. Vitor Benite was simply unstoppable, reaching halftime with 19 points and no misses, having made 3 two-pointers, 4 shots from downtown and a free throw. Gran Canaria buried 12 of 17 two-point shots (70.6% 2FG) in the first half and made 9 of 17 shots from beyond the arc (52.9% 3FG). 

Vitor Benite of Herbalife Gran Canaria had 19 of his 21 ponts in the first half to help his team get an 81-88 road victory against Turk Telekom Ankara.

Benite gets 19 first-half points in Ankara

Gran Canaria outrebounded Turk Telekom 13-17, including 6 offensive boards. The visitors also had 15 assists and just 4 turnovers. Gran Canaria had a team PIR of 70 at halftime compared to Turk Telekom's 39. Things were very different in the second half, in which Turk Telekom even managed to take a brief 78-77 lead. Gran Canaria saved its energy for crunch time, which is when Nico Brussino and Damien Ingles made the difference. 

Gran Canaria made just 1 of 15 three-pointers after the break (6.7%), but a great first half allowed Gran Canaria to return home with a good-as-gold victory. 

Gran Canaria's first half made the difference in Ankara 

Turk Telekom Ankara v Gran Canaria (2022-12-07T17:00:00.000Z)

U-BT Club-Napoca gained a rousing home win over Joventut Badalona, 98-82, on Wednesday. With the victory Cluj improved to 3-4, within a game of Joventut, which dropped to 4-3. Joventut led for most of the first half, but Cluj finished strong for a 46-41 halftime lead. The host continued to dominate as the advantage grew as high as 15 points in the third quarter, and Joventut couldn’t get closer than 8 points the rest of the way. 

Leo Meindl led the way for Cluj with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Karel Guzman (19 points) and Nemanja Gordic (11 points and 9 assists) also excelled. Pau Ribas and Andres Feliz shined in defeat for Joventut with 20 points apiece. 

Early triples for Feliz and Ribas sent Joventut ahead, 2-6. A trio of baskets from Meindl gave Cluj the lead, 16-14, but Ribas scored twice to make it 17-22 after 10 minutes. Meindl and Sanders hit three-pointers to tie it at 29-29. Ribas scored twice in a 0-7 run, but Victor Sanders and Gordic did likewise for a 46-41 halftime lead. 

Stefan Bircevic and Guzman started the second half with a pair of triples apiece, 60-51, and Sanders added back-to-back threes to make it 70-56. Patrick Richard also struck twice from deep to bridge the third and fourth quarters, 79-65, before 5 points from Feliz rallied Joventut to 83-75. But two more scores from Meindl helped seal a comfortable home victory.

Cluj pummels Joventut, 98-82

U-BT Cluj-Napoca v Joventut Badalona (2022-12-07T17:30:00.000Z)

### U-BT Club-Napoca head coach Mihai Silvasan:

“I’m not surprised. We played a good basketball game, we managed to hit some shots and I’m really happy that we scored 98 points on a team that had received until now just 73 points per game. An unbelievable offensive performance from our team. The defensive side wasn’t bad, of course, we can improve but I’m very happy and grateful for this victory and the way we played. We had a good day three-point shooting and this is basketball – if you score you have chances to win, if you miss a lot of shots it’s difficult.

“Basketball is much easier when you score 16 threes with 50%. I congratulate my guys for having a good spirit, for wishing to take this win. They didn’t have one moment when they gave up or were in doubt. We played tough, won the rebounding battle, won the assists battle, we shared the ball good. We hit a lot of threes but most of them we created and they were open shots. It’s a great achievement for us to beat a team that has this history and comes from such a tough league. We are proud but we have to move forward and take care of the next games.”

### Joventut Badalona head coach Carles Duran:

“Today is a very bad day for us, but the game has finished and we have to think in the right way. Now it’s difficult for us, more problems, but we try to think of the next game.

“Congrats to Cluj, they played very well tonight. When you receive 100 points it’s impossible to win. In the first quarter, we played better, but in the other quarters, only one team played. Cluj played with more energy, won the rebounds, steals...different things. I think the key was Cluj played with more energy than us.”

### U-BT Club-Napoca forward Leo Meindl:

“I’m very happy. We followed our plan well, we have two more games this year and we’ve got to do everything to win both.”

Coach Silvasan, Cluj: 'An unbelievable offensive performance'

7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys finished the game on a 13-2 tear to outlast Germani Brescia 79-70 on Wednesday night at Cido Arena. Lietkabelis remained undefeated at home this season in improving to 4-3 in Group A. The loss dropped Brescia to 2-5. Jamel Morris paced the winners with 13 points and 5 assists. Gabrielus Maldunas contributed 12 points and Benas Griciunas and Gyorgy Goloman added 10 points apiece. Amedeo Della Valle produced 14 points and 6 assists for Brescia, CJ Massinburg also scored 14 and Kenny Gabriel tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.

Goloman scored half of his team’s points as Lietkabelis jumped out to a 12-7 lead. Gabrielius Maldunas added a pair of baskets in a 7-0 run that stretched the margin to double figures, 19-9. The margin reached 13 before David Moss netted a triple for Brescia. Free throws by Griciunas made it 26-14 after 10 minutes.

The teams traded shots for the first 5 minutes of the second quarter. Massinburg helped the visitors close to within 8 only to see Lietkabelis strike back with 5 quick points to lead 39-26. Brescia made one last push with the final 6 points of the half and David Cournooh’s jumper on the buzzer made it 43-36 at the break.

Della Valle netted a three to continue the Brescia momentum at the start of the second half. Nicola Akele’s three-pointer tied things at 47-47 and a triple by Della Valle gave Brescia its first lead since the opening minutes, 55-56. A layup by Mantas Rubstavicus made it 57-56 at the end of the third quarter.

Brescia scored the first 5 points of the fourth quarter only to see Lietkabelis respond with the next 9 points to take control. Brescia was not done reeled off 7 in a row to lead 66-68. However, the visitors were held scoreless for the next 4 minutes during which Morris led an 11-0 run to make it 77-68 entering the final minute and Brescia never recovered.

Lietkabelis outlasts Brescia, 79-70

Gran Canaria held off Turk Telekom Ankara's late comeback to win 81-88 on Wednesday night in the Turkish capital. The result left both teams with 5-2 records in Group B. Vitor Benite led the winners with 21 points - 19 of which came in the first half. Damien Inglis added 14, Aleksandar Balcerowski scored 11 and Miquel Salvo and Khalifa Diop each had 10 for the guests. Tony Taylor scored 28 points for Turk Telekom, which suffered its second home loss. Erkan Yilmaz added 12 for the hosts. 

A.J. Slaughter and Balcerowski helped Gran Canaria to an early 4-12 margin and then Benite and Diop gave the visitors a 19-28 lead after 10 minutes. Benite struck twice from downtown to boost the lead to 23-38. Benite remained hot and Inglis also sank a triple to make it a 20-point game, 34-54. The score was 37-55 at the break.

Taylor and Nathan Sestina stepped up for Turk Telekom to bring their team within 52-58. Salvo and Ferran Bassas rescued Gran Canaria and then Diop's back-to-back alley-oop dunks made it 64-70 through three quarters. Taylor and Yilmaz each made a triple in an 8-0 run that made it 74-75. Sestina completed the comeback, 78-77, with over 3 minutes left. Nico Brussino buried a critical three-pointer, Inglis added back-to-back jumpers and Bassas sealed the win from the foul line. 

Gran Canaria tops Turk Telekom, 81-88, to move into tie for first

### Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic:

"In the end, we were finding good inside game, our advantages, when Turk Telekom came back, and we made baskets out of this to keep ourselves ahead. We kept our head cool in the end, and it was a big win for us.

"First of all, congratulations to my team, to my players for a very important victory. Like we said in the pre-game, this was a team to beat in Europe, as they were going \[into this game\] with 12 victories in a row, and I think we had an excellent first half, where we were up 20 points. But after the first half, the talent and quality of Turk Telekom had to come in one moment, and they had a very good third quarter, in which they almost came back. And the fourth quarter was open, it was a new game in which I thought we were smart enough, patient enough, looking for our advantages, and we took advantage of that. I thought in the end, we deservedly won, so congratulations to all the team, and all the best to Coach Erdem and his team."

### Turk Telekom Ankara head coach Erdem Can:

"Congratulations to the opponent. To be honest, we lost the game in the first half and the mistakes that we made. We were too soft and didn't stick with \[any\] of our defensive principles. In the second half, we picked up the pace defensively and offensively, but it was not enough at the end of the game. One more time, it is a long run and we will try better every single day."

### Gran Canaria guard Vitor Benite:

"It was a good game. We had the possibility in the second half to use the big men more to play in the post, because we were having trouble playing with the outside players. They fought a lot. They started to play really physical and we couldn't handle it a little bit in the beginning of the third quarter, but the important thing is that we won. We could get this oxygen to keep it going in the third and fourth quarters. It is a good win to keep it going."