By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Back in 1955, the Hungarian national team has won the Eurobasket gold. Since then and especially during the last 50 years, Hungarian basketball has taken a backseat. And that might change this year, thanks to Falco Szombathely.
The two times Hungarian champions were one of the last additions in this year’s Basketball Champions League, and they are doing just fine, having a solid 4-4 record by winning so far all their home games.
Not bad at all for a club that played in the FIBA Europe Cup for the past two seasons but didn’t advance past the regular season. To be exact, last season, they finished with a 3-3 record, but this time if they stay at 50%, they might do just fine.
Behind the play of Jevonte Reddic and young guard Zoltal Perl, who returned to Hungary after one season in Spain with Estudiantes, Falco has made the most of its opportunity. Their last feat was getting the 82-81 overtime win this week against Dijon, which shares the top spot of Group D standings with Telekom Baskets Bonn.
Thanks to this result, Falco is just behind them, tied with established clubs in Europe, like Happy Casa Brindisi, Neptunas Klaipeda, and Casedemont Zaragoza and over well-known names like Besiktas Sompo Sigorta and PAOK who follow at 3-5.
As Falco’s Slovenian coach Gasper Okorn said after the last game of his team: “Now it’s easy to be smart, but fortune favors the brave”.
Falco survived with Dijon having the last shot and Okorn was more than sincere: “In those situations, you have also to be lucky. For us, that came in the last play, but we also controlled the boards and we forced 15 turnovers. It’s not great, but it’s not bad”.
And that should be Falco’s mantra for the rest of the regular season. “It’s not bad” to win at home, even if Falco scored 49 points against Besiktas (74–49) and became just one of the seven teams which have scored less than 50 points in a Basketball Champions League game.
Before them, Szolnoki Olaj was the only Hungarian team to ever compete in the Basketball Champions League. They finished their campaign with a 2-12 record in the regular season.
So Falco has already made history for Hungarian basketball with four wins and the Basketball Champions League gives them the platform to showcase their talent at their continental level.
And if they manage to stay at 50% and make it to the next phase, in the words of coach Okorn: “It’s not great, but it’s not bad”.