In an exciting and high-scoring game in which neither team managed to take a double-digit lead, Hamburg Towers prevailed and grabbed its second road win of the season by beating Dolomiti Energia Trento 90-99 at BLM Group Arena on Wednesday night. The visitors entered the fourth quarter trailing 70-66, but scored 33 points in the last 10 minutes to seal the outcome and improve to 3-5 in Group B.

Hamburg outscores Trento on the road, 90-99

Caleb Homesley set the tone for Hamburg with 27 points and 5 three-pointers, Jaylon Brown contributed 20 points in just 19 minutes, Maik Kotsar signed off on a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds for a career-high PIR of 30 and Ray McCallum and Justus Hollatz provided 14 and 12 points, respectively. Diego Flaccadori led Trento with 19 points on 10-of-11 free-throw shooting. Cameron Reynolds followed with 16 points, while Johnathan Williams posted 13 points, 8 boards and 4 steals, and Toto Forray and Welsey Saunders had 11 points apiece for Trento, which dropped to 1-6. 

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Reynolds pushed the hosts to a solid offensive start with 5 points in a row that built an 8-3 lead. Eddy Edigin and Hinrichs showed up to narrow the gap, but Trento found Saunders and Flaccadori to retain a 12-9 edge after 5 minutes. The visitors struggled to keep the ball safe on the offensive end until McCallum took the court; he provided a layup and drew an unsportsmanlike foul that tied the game at 14-14. Despite Forray taking over for the hosts to restore a 4-point advantage, consecutive baskets by Robin Christen, McCallum and Hollatz granted Hamburg its first lead, 20-21, at the end of the first quarter.

The run continued when the game resumed, as Kotsar scored inside and then stole a ball that turned into a three by McCallum for an 18-25 lead. Forray and Bradford drained a triple each to make it a one-possession game and Caroline joined in to keep Trento in the hunt. A triple by Homesley helped Hamburg stay in front, 29-35, midway through the second quarter. A put-back slam by Williams and a couple of turnovers by the visitors allowed Trento to react and get it even at 36-36. Homesley came to the rescue to drop back-to-back threes that kept Hamburg calm. Edigin and McCallum followed with consecutive baskets to send the game to the locker rooms with the visitors in charge 40-46. 

Trento looked much more confident after the break as it sparked a 12-2 run in which Reynolds and Caroline combined for 10 points to turn things upside down, 52-48, in less than 3 minutes. The visitors didn’t panic, though, and managed to take the reins again, 52-57, through a 0-9 charge highlighted by back-to-back threes from Brown. The scoring rhythm didn’t decay, as Flaccadori took over and strung together a three and a three-point play to restore the lead for Trento. Forray followed with a couple of buckets before feeding Andrea Mezzanote for a 70-66 edge at the end of the third quarter.

Although Forray contributed another basket entering the fourth, back-to-back steals brought the visitors within 72-70. Trento’s timeout did not pay off, as Homesley finished the comeback with a three-point play and Hollatz provided 4 points in a row to make it 74-77. Bradford answered with another 4 of his own to tie it again, but Homesley showed up again to make his fifth triple of the night and give Hamburg an 80-86 edge with 5 minutes remaining. Kotsar, inside, and Brown, from deep, helped Hamburg enter crunch time with an 88-95 margin. Flaccadori connected from downtown soon after to give Trento hope, but Homesley replied with a drive and Brown followed with a transition dunk entering the last minute that extended the gap to 90-99 and put the game to bed. 

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

Hamburg Towers celebrates (photo Trento) - EC21

It was obvious when Joventut Badalona took the first 9 boards of the game on Slask Wroclaw's home floor that rebounds could be decisive, and they were. Vladimir Brodziansky helped early with 3 of those, but 24-year-old center Simon Birgander took over from there for the visitors, finishing with 14 on the night, matching second-most ever pulled in a EuroCup game by a Joventut player. The great Zan Tabak has the club record of 17 and pulled 14 twice, as did Antonio Bueno. However, not since the last of their four occasions, on January 13, 2004, had anyone in a Joventut uniform brought down 14 boards. 

Telling numbers: Joventut ruled on the boards

Slask won the middle quarters of the game and led going into the fourth, 64-63, in large part by evening out the rebounding battle. But with the game on the line, Joventut went back to dominating and finished with a 29-43 advantage overall and one of 10-16 on the offensive glass. A 1.91-meter guard, Alber Ventura, was responsible for 10 other rebounds, 3 more than any single player on Slask. 

Slask Wroclaw v Joventut Badalona (2021-12-22T19:00:00.000Z)

Joel Parra - Joventut Badalona (photo Dawid Podsiadlo - Slask) - EC21

Despite missing its veteran leaders, Joventut Badalona kept pace with the Group A leaders by fending off host Slask Wroclaw for a 73-87 road win on Wednesday. Joventut improved to 6-2 to enter a first-place tie heading into 2022 with fellow group leaders Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and Partizan NIS Belgrade. Slask fell to 1-7 despite fighting back from 15-point deficits to lead after three quarters. 

Brodziansky paces Joventut's 73-87 win at Wroclaw

Vladimir Brodziansky poured in a career-high 29 points to lead Joventut. Andres Feliz and Joel Parra added 13 and 12 points off the bench while Simon Birgander scored 12 to go with 14 rebounds. For Slask, Jakub Karolak drilled 6 three-pointers on the way to 27 points. Travis Trice followed him with 14 points and Aleksander Dziewa added 11.

Kodi Justice hit from deep for an early 3-2 lead by the hosts but Guillem Vives answered with 5 points while Brodziansky and Birgander scored, too, forcing an early Slask timeout at 3-9. Brodziansky kept it going and Feliz scored on a steal at 3-15 before Dziewa put back Slask's first offensive board to end a five-minute scoring drought. Karolak's first triple steadied the hosts but they couldn't stop Brodziansky's hook shot and his transition triple preceded Lukasz Kolenda's to end the quarter at 13-22 for the visitors.

Karolak's jumper and triple got Slask back within 18-22 to start the second quarter. Feliz answered in kind twice, though, for a new double-digit lead, and when Birgander turned a miss into a three-point play, Joventut was up 18-31. Only Brodziansky could make anything but free throws for a while as the lead broadened to 23-37 before Kerem Kanter scored his first points on a putback. Trice came through with the next 4 points to make it 29-37. Joventut went back to Brodziansky while Karolak and Trice each struck from deep for Slask's lowest deficit in some time, 35-40, at halftime. 

Karolak's fourth triple opened the second half and another from Trice soon made it 41.42. Parra and Dziewa traded inside baskets before Karola stole and finished for Slask's first lead in more than 20 minutes, 45-44. Birgander inside and Parra from deep restored Joventut's advantage at 47-51, but Dziewa flipped the scoreboard with the next 4 points. Albert Ventura and Karolak hit shots in the lane, changing the lead twice again, as did Birgander's tip-in and Karolak's fifth triple at 57-55. Pep Busquets and Justice traded threes before Brodziansky hit 3 of 3 free throws at 60-62. Kolenda joined the fun with a banked-in three-pointer and Birgander spun on the baseline for a game-tying dunk before Karolak's free throw left Slask in front, 64-63, after 30 minutes.

Parra and Busquets both went deep to open the fourth quarter with Joventut surging ahead, 64-69. Kanter's free throws were bettered by Feliz, from distance, and Brodziansky finished a break at 66-74. Karolak stepped up with his sixth three-pointer for Slask but Parra soon got loose for another easy layup at 69-76 with 5 minutes left. Almost 2 more minutes passed when Feliz fed Ventura for a triple to restore a double-digit lead, 69-79, that finished the suspense and assured Joventut would go home the victor. Joventut would keep scoring and finish a 9-24 quarter sharing first place in Group A.

Guillem Vives - Joventut Badalona (photo Dawid Podsiadlo - Slask) - EC21

With veteran leaders Pau Ribas and Ante Tomic left home in Spain, someone needed to show the way for an otherwise young Joventut Badalona team on Wednesday, and that someone became clear right away. Forward Vladimir Brodziansky made his first 6 shots of the game, finishing the first quarter with 13 points, as Joventut raced out to double-digit leads. 

Pivotal performer: Joventut's Vladimir Brodziansky 

Brodziansky never stopped scoring in his nearly 37 minutes on the floor and finished with 29, the most by a Joventut player in the EuroCup this season or last. What's more, his 10 two-pointers in 15 tries were the most made by a Joventut player in more than 17 years, since Jamie Arnold had the same number on December 7, 2004. 

Vladimir Brodziansky - Joventut Badalona (photo Dawid Podsiadlo - Slask) - EC21

Wednesday's game marked Slask Wroclaw's return to one of European basketball's most historic arenas, Centennial Hall, 17 years after its last game was played there. Originally called the People's Hall and opened in 1913, the arena has the distinction of being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. 

Slask returned to a historic arena

That was just two years after Slask played its last game there on December 18, 2004, after it had been the club's main court for most of its 17 national league titles between 1965 and 2002. A renovation has now brought back the 10,000-seat arena to its rightful place at the heart of basketball in Poland.

Travis Trice 2- Slask Wroclaw (photo Dawid Podsiadlo - Slask) - EC21

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

Post-Game Quotes: Trento 90-99 Hamburg


### Pedro Calles, Hamburg Towers
“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. Our foul management wasn't good either, so Trento went to the free-throw line way too often."



### Emanuele Molin, Dolomiti Energia Trento
“I think Hamburg deserved it because they played the most important possessions at the end of the quarter really well. And we got the momentum of the game, and we were up by 6 or so, we made 3 turnovers and gave up 9 points in a row to lose the momentum and [that's where] we lost the game, I think.”



### Caleb Homesley, Hamburg Towers
“Any win on the road is big for us. In the fourth quarter, down the stretch, about 3 minutes left, our defense was solid, and that wins games. We took over the game defensively, we got some stops and then easy buckets.”


### Justus Hollatz, Hamburg Towers
“It was very important for us to end this first half of the EuroCup year with a win. We want to take the momentum from the last two games with us into next year. It was the decisive factor for me that we were even more aggressive in the end and that we managed to steal the ball three times in a row. The icing on the cake was the shots by Jaylon [Brown] and Caleb [Homesley], which showed their qualities."


Diego Flaccadori - Dolomiti Energia Trento (photo Trento) - EC21

Post-Game Quotes: Slask 73-87 Joventut


### Carles Duran, Joventut Badalona
"I'm very happy. It's a great victory because today was very difficult for us due to different things. And the mentality of the team was very, very strong, so I am very happy."



### Andrej Urlep, Slask Wroclaw
"Unfortunately for us, we didn't do what we had to; we didn't stop their offensive rebounding. And really unluckily for us, they made a couple of really important baskets at the last second. That just killed our will to fight. I think Joventut played a very good game. We were not able to stop their big guys, and that was the key for the game."



### Vladimir Brodziansky, Joventut Badalona
"We played hard the whole game, we fought through it. Slask played a great game, but at the end, we made some shots. Luckily, we got away and won, which is great for us."



### Jakub Karolak, Slask Wroclaw
"The atmosphere was really amazing tonight. We played for the first time in this arena and the number of fans and their support were impressive. The start and the end of the game were really bad for us. At the end, it cost us the win, because the game lasts 40 minutes, not two quarters. We were a little bit too tired in the last minutes. We play every 3-4 days, so we can't give up and have to move and keep our heads high."


Lukasz Kolenda - Slask Wroclaw (photo Dawid Podsiadlo - Slask) - EC21

Both teams played high-tempo basketball for almost 40 minutes and displayed similar accuracy when shooting the ball. The hosts shot 25 for 45 (55.6%) on two-pointers, 8 for 22 on threes (36.4%) and 16 for 24 (66.7%) from the line, while the visitors were 27 of 47 from two-point range (57.4%), 11 of 27 from three (40.7%), and 12 of 17 on free-throws (70.6%). 

Telling numbers: Steals made the difference

They were also balanced in rebounding and made 14 and 13 turnovers, respectively, but the one who used them better was Hamburg. The visitors pulled out 22 points from them - against Trento’s 16 - and outscored its opponent 8-21 in fastbreaks, which proved decisive when the game went to the line. 

Caleb Homesley - Hamburg Towers (photo Trento) - EC21

With its 90-99 win in Trento, the visitors crossed the 90-point mark for the fifth time this season; Hamburg scored 97 against Partizan NIS Belgrade in Round 1; 91 against MoraBanc Andorra in Round 3; and reached triple-digits by signing 100 points against Lietkabelis Panevezys and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in Rounds 4 and 7, respectively. 

Hamburg relies on offense to win again

The first two games finished in defeat, but the last two turned into victories, as it did this night against Dolomiti Energia Trento. So far, all of the Hamburg wins have come when the team scored 99 or more points, something that may disturb its coach, but probably makes the team's fans happy. 

Jaylon Brown 2- Hamburg Towers (photo Trento) - EC21