SAMOKOV (Bulgaria) - It was easily the best game in the history of the Basketball Champions League Qualification Round Tournaments.
Patrioti Levice defeated the Bakken Bears 100-98 in a double overtime game to win the Champions Path and claim the last Regular Season spot, in Group F, alongside AEK BC, VEF Riga and NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz.
Turning Point
It's impossible to describe everything that went down in a game with 26 lead changes, as Bakken Bears' Duke Deen's heroics sent the game to overtime, while Patrioti Levice's Rickey McGill hit an off-balance three-pointer - off the backboard, too - to make it double OT.
Levice thought they won it, but Shaquille Rombley drew a foul and knocked down both free throws to make it 98-97 Bakken with just 1.0 left to play in the second overtime.
However, coach Michal Madzin had another trick up his sleeve. He handed the ball to Will Carius, and the center hit a turnaround three-pointer at the buzzer to send Levice to the Regular Season for the first time ever.
Player of the Game
It just had to be Will Carius. The 27-year-old was incredible throughout the game, finishing with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 3 steals, all together giving him an efficiency rating of 35.
Stats Don't Lie
It's hard to pick one stat that won a game like this, but Levice got 27 fast break points compared to Bears' 13.
Bottom Line
Adding another country to our list! Slovakia became the 30th different nation to have a BCL Regular Season club, and Levice celebrated it long after the game, with a group of their traveling fans in Bulgaria.
They start their Group F adventure against the Hungarian champions Szolnoki on October 8.
As for Bakken, they presented a modern brand of basketball, incredibly fast with a number of rotations that had most of the teams spinning in Tournament 1. However, they fall just short.
Keep an eye on them moving forward, rookie coach Skyler Bowlin is just at the start of what could be an incredible coaching journey.