MIES (Switzerland) - VEF Riga and Sabah BC almost completed comebacks for the ages on the road in Hungary and France, Unicaja enjoyed their umpteenth dominant win at home in the competition. What else?
Season X of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL continue to impress. Here's what happened on Wednesday all over Europe.
Unicaja 102-80 Filou Oostende
No teams in the BCL managed to score 90+ points in eight consecutive games played at home before Wednesday.
Unicaja wrote another chapter of the competition's history, as they extended such a run with the 102-80 win over Filou Oostende, staying unbeaten at 3-0 in Group G. This was also their 16th straight victory at home in the BCL.
The back-to-back champions rarely need the best version of Kendrick Perry to display such dominance, but against the Belgians, there was an exception. The point guard led the team with 22 points over 9-of-10 from the field.
Chris Duarte (17 points over 7-of-11 from the field) and Tyson Perez (14 points and 8 rebounds) also contributed to Ibon Navarro's team's victory over Oostende.
After this defeat, the road side suffered their fifth consecutive loss in the competition for the first time in the club's history.
Noam Yaacov improved his chances to be named Best Young Player of the Season with a losing effort of 14 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds.
NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz 77-76 VEF Riga
For the first time in the club's history, NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz managed to win consecutive home games in the BCL. After getting their first win over Patrioti Levice, they beat Riga 77-76.
On the other note, the Latvians' losing streak away from home continues: they have lost the last 18 games played on the road in the competition - the longest such of all time.
Tamas Pallai (21 points) and Adam Somogyi (17 points, 12 assists, and 5 rebounds) were the brightest protagonists in the home side's win.
With that said, the black-and-white team still produced a 16-5 run to go up 75-74 with two minutes to go. However, Brady Skeens came to the rescue with a last-minute block to secure the victory.
Arnaldo Toro had another double-double (14 points and 14 rebounds) in the loss: the Puerto Rican center has now grabbed 8+ rebounds in the last eight games.
Illya Sidorov and Zahir Porter combined for 36 points in Riga's defeat.
Mersin Sports Club 81-73 Karditsa Iaponiki
The good tradition for Turkish teams playing in front of their fans for the first time in the BCL continues.
Mersin Sports Club join the list of sides from Türkiye capable of getting a win in their first home game in the league: they are now the 11th of 14 such teams, beating Karditsa Iaponiki 81-73.
Following this result and despite Karditsa outscoring Mersin 22-12 in points from turnovers, Greek teams have now lost seven of the last eight road games in the BCL.
The backcourt duo of Justin Cobbs (13 points and 5 assists) and Pako Cruz (14 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists) stepped up in the win.
Gabe Olaseni had 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists in 32:01 minutes.
"Obviously, it's a big win in terms of our BCL standing within the group. It's a big and special day in Türkiye as well, Independence Day. It was very important for us, I'm glad we got the win for the fans," Gabe Olaseni said.
The Jeffersons had impressive losing efforts for the Greeks: Brandon had 20 points over 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, Damien finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds.
Elan Chalon 84-70 Sabah BC
Elan Chalon had a rough weekend in France, losing by 40 points (107-67) at home against Paris Basketball.
They wanted to come back stronger than ever, making a statement to stay unbeaten in Group B. Mission completed: they beat Sabah 84-70 and increased their record to 3-0 in the BCL Regular Season.
However, it wasn't an easy task, as the black-and-pink side managed to come back from -21 to (52-31) at 1:02 in the second to -1 (63-62) at 8:57 in the fourth.
After grabbing 10 or more rebounds in each of his first two games in the BCL, Lionel Guadoux couldn't do the same in his third appearance but still had 12 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Jeremiah Hill was also crucial, finishing with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
"Honestly, mentally, many many close games, physically with many many travels, and we are at some point where, with the injuries, we are just tired. At the end of the day, we were able to show a lot of character today," Chalon head coach Elric Delord offered after the win.
Spending his whole career in France before moving to Azerbaijan, Jean-Marc Pansa had a losing effort of 19 points over 8-of-9 from the field against Chalon.