Spanish day in the BCL: Murcia, Manresa pick up impressive wins

MIES (Switzerland) - While most of the BCL teams are on a break four were in action on Wednesday, in the rescheduled Week 3 fixtures. UCAM Murcia and BAXI Manresa were unstoppable on the night, protecting their home court against Darussafaka Lassa and Bahcesehir College, respectively.

UCAM Murcia are known as a powerhouse in their own backyard. A 96-87 win over Darussafaka Lassa means that they have now 15 wins in a row in the BCL in the Palacio de los Deportes, and their second straight win in the Round of 16.

Coach Sito Alonso saw his guys shooting 15-of-30 from beyond the arc, and there is not much any team can do when Thaddus McFadden is feeling hot. The 2020 Final 8 MVP put up 15 points before the halftime break, and counted to 24 points by the 24th minute mark of the game.

However, Dacka managed to slow him down the rest of the way, and he finished the game with 26 points on 6-of-10 three-point shooting. Good number for the visitors, as it seemed he could go over 40 in this one.

McFadden had a lot of help from James Anderson who was one rebound and three assists away from a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Nemanja Radovic was the only other player to score in double digits for Murcia, with 10 points.

Gabriel Olaseni had 19 points in a losing effort, which puts Darussafaka in a tough position. They are now stuck at 0-3 at the bottom of the group.

		GAMES				STREAK	GAME POINTS					POINTS
#	Team	P	W	L	%	Last 5	For	Agt	+/-	FA	AA
1	Lenovo Tenerife	3	3	0	100		243	190	53	81	63.3	6
2	UCAM Murcia	3	2	1	66.7		251	244	7	83.7	81.3	5
3	Surne Bilbao	3	1	2	33.3		223	243	-20	74.3	81	4
4	Darüssafaka Lassa	3	0	3	0		221	261	-40	73.7	87	3

In the other game of the day, BAXI Manresa erased a slow start to the game to go from -9 to +18 against Bahcesehir College. It finished 90-72, pushing last season's runners-up to 2-1 in their group, just ahead of Rytas Vilnius and just behind Telekom Baskets Bonn.

Coach Pedro Martinez must have had an impressive halftime team talk, getting a response in a shape of 31 third-quarter points from his players. The hosts won the third frame by a 16- point margin to pull away decisively open and make it a calm night in Manresa the rest of the way.

Devin Robinson scored a team-high 18 points, Jerrick Harding was right next to him with 16, while Juampi Vaulet and Martinas Geben had 12 each. But the man of the hour in Manresa was Dani Perez, who didn't even score in the game.

Perez dished out 13 assists, tying his own personal record in the BCL, and also tying the mark for most assists without a point scored in a BCL game. Tim Frazier had 0 points and 13 assists for AEK earlier this season.

Conor Morgan made his BCL debut with 16 points off the bench for BKSK, Jamar Smith scored 15, but without Jerry Boutsiele, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Istanbul club. Manresa won the paint points battle by 22.

		GAMES				STREAK	GAME POINTS					POINTS
#	Team	P	W	L	%	Last 5	For	Agt	+/-	FA	AA
1	Telekom Baskets Bonn	3	3	0	100		247	216	31	82.3	72	6
2	BAXI Manresa	3	2	1	66.7		241	228	13	80.3	76	5
3	Rytas Vilnius	3	1	2	33.3		243	256	-13	81	85.3	4
4	Bahcesehir College	3	0	3	0		228	259	-31	76	86.3	3

The Basketball Champions League now enters a break in action which will last until March 7 and 8, when these four teams will play the reverse fixtures in Turkey.