Six more games to follow on Wednesday night
Game Center: Besiktas wins at buzzer; Neptunas, Manresa, Jerusalem triumph too
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Tuesday, October 21
Neptunas Klaipeda 97-88 Veolia Towers Hamburg
Neptunas Klaipeda finally tasted victory in the BKT EuroCup by knocking off Veolia Towers Hamburg 97-88 at home in a battle of winless teams. Neptunas lost a 14-point lead but executed enough down the stretch to improve to 1-3 in Group A.
Donatas Tarolis scored 20 points to pace seven Neptunas scorers in double figures with Rihards Lomazs scoring 16 points, Martynas Pacevicius collecting a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds and Arnas Velicka tallying 12 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. Hamburg dropped to 0-4 as the only winless team left despite LJ Thorpe scoring 22 points with 4 rebounds and 4 assists and Eric Reed contributing 17 points.
ratiopharm ulm 99-101 Besiktas GAIN Istanbul
Besiktas GAIN Istanbul claimed a 99-101 road win in Germany on Anthony Brown's buzzer-beater to end ratiopharm ulm’s unbeaten start to the season. The home team controlled much of the game, but Besiktas mounted a 14-point comeback in the final quarter, sparked by 3 crucial triples from Conor Morgan.
Anthony Brown led Besiktas with 19 points and 4 assists, while Conor Morgan added 15 points. Ismael Kamagate also made his presence felt with 13 points and 8 rebounds. For ulm, Chris Ledlum delivered a big performance with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, Tobias Jensen contributed 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Christian Sengfelder also scored 14 points.
Aris Thessaloniki Betsson 79-86 BAXI Manresa
BAXI Manresa celebrated a 79-86 road win at Aris Thessaloniki Betsson and improved to 3-1 while the Greek side dropped to 2-2. Retin Obasohan paced the visitors on 20 points and Alfonso Plummer added 18, Agustin Ubal chipped in 13 points. Steve Enoch netted 19 for Aris.
Having pulled away to a 3-12 lead after Aris failed to score a field goal in the opening 5:26 minutes, Manresa carved out an 18-27 advantage at the end of the first quarter on the back of 9 points (3 of 3 from downtown) by Plummer. Aris then beefed up its defense and led for the first time, 36-34, midway through the second quarter but Manresa edged ahead 43-44 at halftime thanks to 9 offensive boards.<br> It was a see-saw third quarter as Aris nosed ahead 51-48 and the lead changed hands several times again before Manresa forged a 64-66 advantage ahead of the final 10 minutes. A 2-13 run early in the fourth allowed the Spanish team to extend its lead to 66-79 and although Aris slashed the deficit to 77-83 in the home stretch, Manresa was able to close out the contest.
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 86-69 Slask Wroclaw
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem made light work of Slask Wroclaw on Tuesday for an 86-69 victory at Ranko Zeravica Sports Hall in Belgrade, Serbia. Though Slask made a bright start, the hosts fought back and asserted their dominance by the end of the first quarter.
Turnovers, missed free-throws and poor shot decisions haunted the visitors, while Jerusalem put on a highly professional performance, holding onto a sizeable lead for the majority of the contest and staving off a late run from the Polish team. Defense was the key for Yonatan Alon’s men, as they held Slask to under 70 on the night.
Jared Harper played the starring role, recording a stat line of 20 points, and 4 assists. Khadeen Carrington, Anthony Lamb and Dmytro Skapintsev also reached double figures in scoring. Kadre Gray and Jakub Niziol scored 15 points apiece to lead Slask. With the victory, Jerusalem bounced back from consecutive defeats and the result moves both teams to 2-2 in their EuroCup campaigns.
Wednesday, October 22
U-BT Cluj-Napoca vs. Umana Reyer Venice (18:00 CEST)
A second win of the season and a chance to climb the standings is up for grabs as Cluj (1-2) hosts Reyer (1-2). Cluj will lean on the EuroCup’s best performer so far, Fatts Russell, whose spectacular combination of 21 points, 15 assists and 8 rebounds wasn’t quite enough to overcome Slask last time out. Fellow guard Trey Woodbury will attempt to continue his return to form after netting 20 points in that game, so visiting backcourt leader RJ Cole will have to exert the same kind of influence that saw him combine 10 points and 7 assists to mastermind last week’s first win of the season over Neptunas.
Bahcesehir College Istanbul vs. Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (18:00 CEST)
One of the competition’s four unbeaten records will be broken as Bahcesehir (3-0) faces Cedevita (3-0) in an early showdown of title contenders. Cedevita’s latest victory came courtesy of outstanding defense, limiting Aris to just 59 points, while guard Umoja Gibson is red hot offensively with averages of 20 points and 5.5 assists in the last two games. Delivering another defensive clampdown will not be easy against an impressive Bahcesehir which leads the league in scoring (99 points per game), PIR (120.3), assists (23) and steals (13), while backcourt star Malachi Flynn is the EuroCup’s second-rated performer (25 PIR per game) after scoring at least 16 points in each of the first three games.
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica vs. Panionios Athens (19:00 CEST)
A second win of the season is the prize as Buducnost (1-2) faces Panionios (1-2) in the first ever meeting between the teams. Both have lost their last two games and now need offensive improvement after suffering low-scoring defeats last week, with Buducnost hoping that Skylar Mays can lead that process after netting 22 and 21 points in the last two games. A double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds from center Nate Watson was the sole bright spot for Panionios in last week’s home loss to Bourg, and the Greek team desperately needs to improve its three-point shooting after netting just 5 triples on 23 attempts in that loss.
NINERS Chemnitz vs. London Lions (19:00 CEST)
Two of the seven teams tied with a 1-2 record in Group B will battle for a second victory as Chemnitz welcomes London. Chemnitz nearly grabbed a big road win at Besiktas last week thanks to a stunning display from center Kevin Yebo (32 points and 7 rebounds), so London will have to control his influence. The German team can also call upon the backcourt talents of Corey Davis Jr, who averages 18 points and 7.3 assists per game. London will look for more leadership from Tarik Phillip after his 15 points and 7 assists helped secure a first win of the season against Trento last week, while experienced new signing Chasson Randle could make his debut.
Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse vs. Lietkabelis Panevezys (19:30 CEST)
Perfect Bourg (3-0) will attempt to make it four wins out of four with a visit from Lietkabelis (1-2). The French team has compiled by far the best defensive record in the EuroCup by allowing just 61.3 points per game, remarkably holding its opponents to just 18.5% shooting from three-point range, while guard Darius McGhee has been taking care of business at the other end of the court by netting 20 points per game. Against such a strong defense, Lietkabelis – which has lost two in a row – needs to take better care of the ball after committing 20 turnovers in last week’s narrow loss to Ulm, with playmaker Jamel Morris responsible for 8 of those.
Dolomiti Energia Trento vs. Turk Telekom Ankara (20:00 CEST)
Turk Telekom (1-2) will attempt to gather more momentum by taking a road win from its trip to inconsistent Trento (1-2). The Turkish team grabbed its first victory by downing Buducnost last time out, and guard Kyle Allman will again look to lead the offense after netting 16 points in that triumph. Trento’s unpredictable start continued with a heavy loss at previously winless London, but Bulgarian forward Andrej Jakimovski will hope to continue his strong form after netting 15 points in each of the last two games. The Italian team needs to improve its long-range accuracy after making a competition-low 24.3% of three-point shots so far.