By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
London Lions and Paris Basketball remain perfect in the BKT EuroCup after Round 3 by getting two impressive road wins.
The defending champions, Gran Canaria are also at 3-0, like Besiktas, and Bourg, while Hapoel Tel Aviv follows at 2-0 with one game less.
Meanwhile, Aris Midea Thessaloniki got an important win – their first in the season – over last year’s finalists Turk Telekom Ankara by just two points.
London Lions prevailed in Riga over Prometey Slobozhanske by 12 points (99-87) with Matthew Morgan scoring 21 points, while Donte Grantham and Sam Dekker added 17 points each.
Conor Morgan contributed 15 points as the Lions, despite a 30-19 start by Prometey, got the lead by halftime and kept it until the end. Marcus Keene with 18 points was the top scorer of the home side.
Paris Basketball was even more impressive in the 105-69 road win over Veolia Towers Hamburg. Collin Malcolm paced the Paris attack with 22 points and TJ Shorts tallied 14 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals to lead the winners.
Al Durham was Hamburg’s top scorer with 18 points.
Aris Midea Thessaloniki got the 68-66 over Turk Telekom Ankara with Vassilis Toliopoulos leading the winners with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Marcus Carr scored 13 points and Ismael Sanogo collected 12 points plus 9 rebounds in the winning effort. Tyrone Wallace scored 16 points for the losing side.
Besiktas Emlajket Istanbul beat Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana (73-66) as Jonah Mathews had 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. D.J. Stewart led four Cedevita scorers in double figures with 15 points, but the hosts got what they wanted without pressure in the closing minutes.
The guests trailed by five points (65-60) with four minutes left and never got closer.
Dreamland Gran Canaria also got a road win over Dolomiti Energia Trento with the final score being 87-73 after the defending champions dominated the last period with a partial score of 25-9.
Nicolas Brussino with 24 points and Sylven Landesberg with 21 led the charge for GranCa, while Andrejs Grazulis with 13 points was the hosts’ top scorer.
Last but not least, Joventut Badalona needed overtime but beat Wolves Vilnius 107-98. Vladimir Brodziansky with 22 points was the top scorer for the winning side and Pep Busquets added 18 points and Pau Ribas had 17 in a team effort on every level with the team missing a key member in the injured Andres Feliz. Ante Tomic with two free throws (88-88) and three seconds left sent the game into overtime.
Rasheed Sulaimon with 21 points and Tre’Shaun Thurman with 20 tried their best for the Lithuanian team which was also missing injured point guard Arturs Zagars. However, Sulaimon lost the chance to win the game in regulation with a missed three at the buzzer.
GROUP A
Umana Reyer Venice – Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 81-97
Prometey Slobozhanske – London Lions 87-99
Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul – Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana 73-66
Veolia Towers Hamburg – Paris Basketball 69-105
Joventut Badalona – Wolves Vilnius 107-98 (OT)
STANDINGS
- Paris 3-0
- Besiktas 3-0
- London Lions 3-0
- Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-0
- Juventut Badalona 2-1
- Prometey 1-2
- Wolves Vilnius 0-2
- Umana Reyer Venice 0-3
- Cedevita Olimpija 0-3
- Hamburg Towers 0-3
GROUP B
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica – Slask Wroclaw 103-89
ratiopharm Ulm – 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys 99-74
Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse – U-BT Cluj-Napoca 92-88
Aris Midea Thessaloniki – Turk Telekom Ankara 68-66
Dolomiti Energia Trento – Dreamland Gran Canaria 73-87
STANDINGS
- Gran Canaria 3-0
- Bourg En Bresse 3-0
- Buducnost 2-1
- Cluj-Napoca 2-1
- Ulm 2-1
- Turk Telekom 1-2
- Aris 1-2
- Lietkabelis 1-2
- Trento 0-3
- Slask 0-3