By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Making buckets, scoring points is certainly exciting to watch. Defense may win championships, but prolific scorers and points are the main basketball attractions. This was the case with Trieste and Rytas in Gameday 4 of the Basketball Champions League Season X, powered by Ameresco SUNEL.
On Tuesday, the Italian side dropped 115 points in a win against Igokea m:tel in PalaTrieste, the most in a non-overtime game in the Champions League since 2023.
On Wednesday, the Lithuanian side reached one point higher at 116 versus MLP Academics Heidelberg in Twinsbet Arena, the most since 2021!
List of teams with the most points in a single BCL game
| OPPONENT | POINTS | DATE | |
| 1. UNET Holon | Polski Cukier Torun | 122 | 19/10/19 |
| 2. BAXI Manresa | Polski Cukier Torun | 121 | 11/12/19 |
| 3. Brose Bamberg | Casademont Zaragoza | 117 | 23/2/21 |
| 4. Rytas | MLP Academics Heidelberg | 116 | 5/11/25 |
| 5. Trieste | Igokea m:tel | 115 | 4/11/25 |
| -. UCAM Murcia | Tofas | 115 | 14/11/23 |
| -. Promitheas | Opava | 115 | 8/10/23 |
| -. Lenovo Tenerife | Dinamo Sassari | 115 | 6/1/21 |
| 9. Telekom Baskets Bonn | Opava | 114 | 20/11/18 |
| -. Neptunas | Gaziantep | 114 | 1/11/17 |
| -/ CEZ Nymburk | Bakken Bears | 114 | 6/12/16 |
Must-win situation
Jumping to 1-3 in Group E of the Regular Season, the team coached by Israel Gonzalez rejuvenated the bid for a spot in the Round of 16, rather than being limited to slim hopes over the last two fixtures on the six-game double-legged round-robin schedule.
With the most points than any Italian team in league history, Trieste featured eight double-digit scorers, a productive bunch trailing only Hapoel Holon with ten double-digit scorers opposite AEK Betsson in the 2023-24 edition of FIBA Europe’s top-tier club competition.
“Thought was a great team win,” said former Texas Tech standout Jahmi’us Ramsey in a postgame press conference, after tallying a game-high 26 points with 10/14 field goals, including four three-pointers.
“I’m very happy for the team, for the club, for the city, because I think it’s very important to have this win and also in the way we got this win, playing unbelievable basketball, playing good, playing together,” added Gonzalez.
In Istanbul against Galatasaray MCT Technic and at home against Fitness First Wurzburg Baskets, Trieste will be looking for a path to a best-of-three Play-In series via the second or the third seed, since the Turkish club guaranteed first place with a 4-0 run.
“A lot of weapons”
Up to 3-1, Rytas is now in control of Group A, with a distance of one game from Legia Warszawa and Promitheas Vikos Cola. The latest win was fueled by Jerrick Harding putting up a game-high 30 points over 21 minutes. As a reserve for head coach Giedrius Zibenas, he covered most of a new BCL record with 72 bench points.
“We’re capable of scoring a lot of points. We have a lot of weapons,” noted the 27-year-old shooting guard. “Hopefully, we can keep scoring the ball the way we are.”
“It was a big win. We definitely needed it. The guys talked a lot in the locker room about the revenge, because we lost there. It was tough to watch from the TV, because I was out injured. But big energy tonight. I am proud of my guys,” he also talked about missing the reverse fixture opposite Heidelberg in Germany.
On the road for the last two games of the four-team group, the Vilnius outfit travels to Warsaw and Patras, hoping to clinch the top seed and thus a direct ticket to the Round of 16, but otherwise is extremely likely to settle for a second opportunity in a best-of-three Play-In series.