By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The plethora of scoring options highlighted by Giorgi Shermadini lifted Lenovo Tenerife to the win, 79-73, against Falco Szombathely at Arena Savaria Tuesday night.
Ten of Txus Vidorreta’s players got on the board with seven of them tucking in at least one triple. Georgian center Giorgi Shermadini was not among the long-range threats but produced a 19-point, 13-rebound double-double along with two steals, two blocks, and one assist in the tight Basketball Champions League Round of 16 Gameday 1 contest.
After squandering a 12-point advantage, the visitors carried a slim lead through the final ten minutes. Shermadini put up nine of his points in the last quarter at Szombathely, Hungary.
Finnish Sasu Salin chipped in 13 points for the team based in San Cristobal de La Laguna carrying an 8-7 W-L tally in Spain’s ACB. Marcelo Huertas had seven points and nine assists. Bruno Fitipaldo and Emir Sulejmanovic were sidelined.
The Hungary champions, currently 15-3 at the domestic level, missed both Benedek Varadi and Zoltan Perl to begin the Round of 16 in FIBA’s premier club continental competition. The remaining players put up a fight keeping it close but actually got in front for just 33 seconds and eventually succumbed to an 0-1 start in Group L. Rytas Vilnius and SIG Strasbourg complete the four-team field, awarding a couple of berths to the Quarterfinals at the conclusion of the double-legged round-robin schedule.
Despite fouling out, Marvin Clark ended up with a team-high 17 points for the losing side coached by Milos Konakov. Szilard Benke followed with 16 points.
Postgame press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League