In a duel between teams placed at the bottom of the Group B standings, Dolomiti Energia Trento and Hamburg Towers granted the fans the opportunity to enjoy an exciting game in which both sides played high-tempo basketball with fearless offense.

Scoring trio rallied Hamburg to road win

The contest was balanced for 40 minutes as neither team managed to take a double-digit advantage despite several runs and lead changes. In the end, visiting Hamburg prevailed, going for a 90-99 victory at the BLM Group Arena to grab its second road win and inch closer to the playoff spots with a 3-5 record.

Most of the credit for the win should be given to the trio formed by Caleb Homesley, Jaylon Brown and Maik Kotsar, who provided 27, 20 and 15 points, respectively, for Hamburg. All are EuroCup newcomers, but a lack of experience didn't prevent them to perform at the highest level when Trento seemed to have gained control at 72-66 with 9 minutes left.

In what was left of the game, Hamburg managed to score 33 points while holding Trento to 18. Homesley, Kotsar and Brown were responsible for 27 of them, 9 more than Trento as a team. Brown drained a three-point play, a couple of treys and a dunk to reach 11 points in the last quarter. Homesley had 10 behind a triple, a three-point play plus a couple of layups. And Kotsar went for 6 thanks to a three-point play, another free throw and an inside basket.

Kostar would finish with a team-high performance index rating of 30, his best of the season thanks to an all-around display. In addition to his 15 points, Kotsar posted 11 rebounds – 7 of them on offense – 5 assists 4 steals and 6 fouls drawn. All except scoring were his season highs, too, as the Estonian center continues confirming – after having posted 18 points and 24 PIR in the previous round against Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar – that he has already adjusted to European basketball coming from the NCAA.

Homesley and Brown have been awesome to date, too. Homesley has scored 10 points or more in all games and now averages 20.3 points, ranking third in the EuroCup. Brown has scored in double figures in six of eight games for a 15.0-point average.

As such, it's no surprise that Hamburg has one of the most productive offenses in the league, averaging 87.3 points per game after having crossed the 90-point mark five times so far. Besides the 90-99 win in Trento, the visitors scored 97 against Partizan NIS Belgrade in Round 1; 91 against MoraBanc Andorra in Round 3; and 100 against both Lietkabelis Panevezys and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in Rounds 4 and 7, respectively.

However, after the win in Trento, Hamburg head coach Pedro Calle wanted to warn his players that they would need more defense in the future.

"I really liked the mentality and attitude of my players today. It is never easy to win on the road. But our defense has to improve. Again, we allowed the opponent 90 points," he said after the game.

Overall, all the victories Hamburg grabbed so far came when the team scored 99 or more points. That might disturb the coach but is probably making the team's fans more than happy.



Jaylon Brown - Hamburg Towers (photo Trento) - EC21

Dolomiti Energia Trento v Hamburg Towers (2021-12-22T19:00:00.000Z)

Gran Canaria can be extremely happy about where the team stands in the 7DAYS EuroCup heading into the holiday break after once again showing its strength and prevailing in a big-time matchup – thanks this time to the team's depth and great energy.

Gran Canaria's depth, energy drained Virtus late

With plenty of both in the fourth quarter, Gran Canaria carried off a 100-80 home victory over Virtus Segafredo Bologna to gain supremacy in Group B. Gran Canaria is actually second in the standings behind Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, but the Spanish side knocked off Buducnost 76-83 a week ago in the Montenegro capital. Now, both teams are 6-2 with Virtus a game behind at 5-3.

"It's a great victory for us. We've been struggling here a bit lately, so it feels good to get a win here at home, right before Christmas," said A.J. Slaughter, who collected 16 points and 9 assists in the win, said. "Now, we can get some rest and enjoy our holidays."

Slaughter also swiped 3 steals as part of a very energetic and aggressive Gran Canaria defense that eventually wore down a Virtus team that was missing a sextet of pretty important figures: Isaia Cordinier, Niccolo Mannion, Kevin Hervey, Ekpe Udoh, Jakarr Sampson and Awudu Abass. All told, Gran Canaria defenders grabbed 11 steals while forcing 18 Virtus turnovers.

"We held our ground for three quarters, but we came here with very little gas in the tank," Virtus coach Sergio Scariolo said. "They played aggressive, so they deserved to win."

Gran Canaria was not missing as much of its regular production as "only" starters Andrew Albicy and Artem Pustovyi were unavailable. The hosts were able to distribute the burden among more players, with Gran Canaria starters scoring 52 of the team's 100 points. Virtus's starting five scored 61 of its 80 points, while 16 more came from Marco Belinelli of the bench, leaving just 3 for the rest of the team.

Gran Canaria also shot the lights out, connecting on 59.5% of its two-pointers and 15 of 32 three-pointers for 46.9%. Those 15 triples tied for sixth all-time for Gran Canaria in a EuroCup game. All those made shots eventually wore down Virtus, who could not get the stops needed to reel Gran Canaria in and challenge for the victory.

Combine the high shooting percentages, more energy from a supportive home crowd and a deeper lineup to the fact that Gran Canaria only committed 9 turnovers, and it really shouldn't be a surprise that Gran Canaria heads into the holiday break on a high note.

AJ Slaughter - Gran Canaria (photo Gran Canaria) - EC21

Gran Canaria v Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2021-12-22T20:00:00.000Z)

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar guard Errick McCollum was unstoppable on Wednesday, leading his team to a 101-94 win in a back-and-forth affair against Partizan NIS Belgrade and earning Round 8's MVP honor for his performance.

Round 8 MVP: Errick McCollum, Lokomotiv

 McCollum netted a career-high 33 points by making 4 of 8 two-pointers, a career-best 5 triples on 7 attempts, and 10 of 12 free throws. He also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 7 fouls drawn to amass a performance index rating of 37, the highest in Round 8. In the process, McCollum took over second place on the EuroCup's all-time rankings in both scoring, with 1,404 points, and PIR, with 1,532. Two players with PIRs of 31 each, Jaka Blazic of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and Justin Cobbs of Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, came behind McCollum among Round 8's best performers. Blazic led Cedevita to an 85-97 road upset of Valencia Basket with game-high 24 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 10 fouls drawn. Cobbs guided Buducnost's 82-86 win over Mincidelice JL Bourg-en-Bresse with a game-high 24 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds and 7 drawn fouls. The next-best performance belonged to Maik Kotsar of Hamburg Towers, who had 15 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals for a PIR of 30 in his team's 90-99 road win at Dolomiti Energia Trento. Completing Round 8's list of best performers were Vladimir Brodziansky of Joventut Badalona and Jakub Karolak of Slask Wroclaw, with PIRs or 29 in the same game, which Joventut won on the road, 73-87.

### Individual highs: Simon Birgander, Joventut Badalona, 14 rebounds

McCollum led all scorers in Round 8 with a career-high 33 points, tied for the most by any EuroCup player this season. McCollum also took over the season-long scoring lead with 22.8 points per game. Joventut's Simon Birgander pulled down 14 rebounds, more than any other player in the round. Jordan Caroline of Trento is now the exclusive rebounding leader with 8.3 on average. Virtus Segafredo Bologna guard Milos Teodosic's 13 assists this week equaled the high total in the EuroCup this season. Teodosic is also the new overall assists leader with 8.1 per contest. Four players had 4 steals each in Round 8: Hamburg's duo of Kotsar and Justus Hollatz, Johnathan Williams of Trento and Victor Sanders of Umana Reyer Venice. Three players now share a EuroCup-high average of 2.0 steals: Aleksa Avramovic of Partizan, Derek Needham of Frutti Extra Bursaspor and Kevin Hervey of Virtus. Vince Hunter of Boulogne Metropolitans 92 had 3 blocks, the most in Round 8. Octavius Ellis of Turk Telekom Ankara is the top shot-blocker this season with 2.3 blocks per game.

Errick McCollum - Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar (photo Fedor Aebor - Lokomotiv) - EC21

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar v Partizan NIS Belgrade (2021-12-22T16:30:00.000Z)

Virtus Segafredo Bologna point guard Milos Teodosic set a new EuroCup personal best in assists. In addition to his 15 points, Teodosic dished out 13 assists to top the 12 assists he had in March 2021 against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana in March 2021. 

Virtus star Teodosic climbs list despite loss

But it wasn’t a career-high for Teodosic, who collected 14 assists in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague for CSKA Moscow against Unicaja Malaga in January 2015. Teodosic also climbed the all-time assists leaderboard in the EuroCup. He now has 319 assists and during the game jumped past Justin Cobbs and Omar Cook (309), Jamar Smith (311) and Yotam Halperin (316) into 11th place. Marko Popovic is 10th overall with 331 assists.

Gran Canaria shines in blowout of Virtus, 100-80

Dylan Ennis poured in 17 points to pace five scorers in double figures for Gran Canaria, which has won six of its last seven games and is tied for the top spot in Group B with a 6-2 record. AJ Slaughter scored 16 points and dished 9 assists, Chris Kramer and John Shurna both scored 14 points and Miquel Salvo chipped in 10 points in the winning effort. Virtus dropped to 5-3 despite Kyle Weems scoring 17 points. Marco Belinelli added 16 points, Milos Teodosic tallied 15 points and 13 assists, Alessandro Pajola scored 11 and Mam Jaiteh 10 points. It was the second time in the last three games that Virtus gave up 100 points, having beaten Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana 101-104 on the road in Round 6. 

Pajola’s three-pointer started the game for Virtus with Kramer converting a layup at the other end. Teosodic followed with a three-pointer and layup of his own and the visitors grabbed a 2-10 lead early on. Shurna drained back-to-back three-pointers and Slaughter’s triple knotted the game 13-13. Amar Alibegovic connected twice from deep as well for Virtus, which led 21-24. The hosts scored the final 5 points of the first quarter including a third Shurna triple to make it 26-24 after 10 minutes.

Weems started the second quarter with a layup to even the game again. Gran Canaria got defensive stops, allowing just 3 Virtus free throws, and Salvo provided a major boost with a three-point play and triple in a 13-3 run to move ahead 39-29. Pajola finally scored Virtus’s first basket in more than 5 minutes with a three-pointer and Teodosic added a layup in a 0-7 spurt to pull within 39-36. Teodosic connected from deep again and Weems evened the game at 45-45. Ennis raced in for a layup to give Gran Canaria a 47-45 lead at the break. 

Virtus scored the first 4 points of the second half to reclaim the lead only to see Kramer drain a triple and put Gran Canaria up 50-49. Another wave of three-pointers came, Teodosic and Pajola for the visitors and Nicolas Brussino, Slaughter and Shurna for Gran Canaria for a 62-57 lead. Belinelli joined the three-point party with back-to-back triples as Virtus went up 62-65. The back and forth continued and Gran Canaria closed the third quarter with the final 9 points, including a steal and dunk by Ennis and a triple from Slaughter for a 71-65 cushion after 30 minutes.

The barrage from long range continued to start the final frame with Weems and Ennis connecting on triples and Salvo’s hook shot extending the cushion to 78-68 with less than 8 minutes to play. Ennis’s triple had Gran Canaria up 87-72 with 5 minutes remaining. Belinelli was not done and made back-to-back triples to bring Virtus within 87-78. But Gran Canaria could not be stopped and after an Ennis three-pointer and layup, the margin was 97-80 with under 3 minutes left and the hosts cruised the rest of the way. 

Chris Kramer 2- Gran Canaria (photo Gran Canaria) - EC21

Gran Canaria shut down the number one offense in the EuroCup; Virtus had been averaging 93.0 points a game and was second-best in two-point accuracy at 60.0%. On Wednesday, Virtus only scored 80 points and connected on 45.2% of its two-pointers. 

By the Numbers: Gran Canaria shuts down Virtus

Gran Canaria’s 25 assists were tied for sixth all-time for the club in EuroCup history. The home side forced 18 turnovers and only committed 9 turnovers. That gave Gran Canaria a 30-7 advantage in points off turnovers. Both teams grabbed 9 offensive rebounds, but Gran Canaria scored 16 second-chance points, which were four times the number Virtus had.

Miquel Salvo 2- Gran Canaria (photo Gran Canaria) - EC21

Dylan Ennis led Gran Canaria in scoring with 17 points, but the biggest factor in the win was AJ Slaughter.

Slaughter leads the way

Not only did the veteran secure 16 points in the game - making 3 three-pointers and shooting 5-of-10 from the field and 3-of-5 from the foul line, but Slaughter also added 1 rebound, 9 assists, 3 steals and 6 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 26. Slaughter’s 9 assists were one off his EuroCup career-high. And he didn’t commit a single turnover in more than 33 minutes of action.

This is what the protagonists of the game had to say after such a close deal down the stretch.

Post-Game Quotes: Gran Canaria 100-80 Virtus


### Porfi Fisac, Gran Canaria
“It’s a great victory for us because we were sharing the ball really well. And in the second half we dominated the rhythm and controlled the rebounds in the last quarter."



### Sergio Scariolo, Virtus Segafredo Bologna
“What can I say? Congrats to Gran Canaria. They played a very good game. We give them all the credit. They moved the ball well, they shot the ball really well. They played aggressive, so they deserved to win. There’s not too much else to say. On our side, I was kind of expecting that after so many wins in a row and the situation that we are in that sooner or later we would have a bad game. It happened tonight. I don’t like it at all. We held our ground for three quarters. But then we definitely ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. Then we lost a little bit of composure. We thought we had to rush, even when we were down by 8, we played with the anxiety of a team that looked like they were down by 20. That’s something we need to work on. Especially with the most experienced players having to show the way. Take your time, it’s only 8 points and there are 6 minutes to go. There’s no reason to rush that much. But when you are physically and mentally out of energy, those things happen. We don’t have to dramatize anything. We hope to rest a little bit now and recover some of our injured players and start another winning streak.”



### AJ Slaughter, Gran Canaria
“It’s a great victory for us. We’ve been struggling here a bit lately so it feels good to get a win here at home right before Christmas. Now we can get some rest and enjoy our holidays.”


Ilimane Diop - Gran Canaria (photo Gran Canaria) - EC21

Despite enjoying short leads for many moments in the game, the visitors entered the fourth quarter trailing 70-66. At that moment, Trento seemed to have already found the momentum when Toto Forray made it 72-66 early in the quarter, but Hamburg managed to turn it upside down thanks to a superb offensive performance in the last 9 minutes, in which it scored 33 points. 

Brown, Kotsar and Homesley boost Hamburg late

18 of those came through 3-point plays, and all of them were contributed by the trio of Jalen Brown, Caleb Homesley and Maik Kotsar. They combined for 27 of Hamburg’s 33 fourth-quarter points. In contrast, Trento totaled 20 in the last 10 minutes. 