15 September, 2020
01 January, 2021
Travante Williams (SPOR)
23/09/2020
News
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Sporting, Igokea seal passage to Qualifiers Group C Final

BOTEVGRAD (Bulgaria) - Sporting CP and Igokea will clash on Friday in the Final of Group C of the Qualifiers, with the winner earning a spot in the 2020-21 Basketball Champions League Regular Season.

On Wednesday, the Lisbon club prevailed over Swiss side Fribourg Olympic in the first Semi-Final in the Bulgarian city of Botevgrad, while later Igokea defeated U-BT Cluj Napoca in the second Semi-Final at the same venue.

Sporting CP 84-78 Fribourg Olympic


Sporting raced to a 16-point lead early in the second quarter and turned back a late Fribourg comeback attempt to secure an 84-78 win in the first Semi-Final of Qualifiers Group D in Bulgaria.

A Jalen Henry dunk 7:25 from the end of the second period capped off a 17-4 run bridging the two first periods and stretched the Lisbon club's lead to 38-22.

Fribourg chipped away at the gap in the third frame and reduced it to just 2 points, 63-61, shortly before the third buzzer but the Portuguese side used another spurt to restore a 12-point lead, 79-67, midway through the final stanza.

Travante Williams paced Sporting with 23 points on 7 of 15 shooting from the floor and added 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists, and John Fields posted a double-double of 20 points and 11 boards. Fribourg's Brandon Garrett and Arnaud Cotture scored 16 points apiece in defeat.

Igokea 82-75 U-BT Cluj Napoca


Igokea led Cluj Napoca from start to finish and by as many as 18 points in the third frame but had to hold off the Romanian club late to clinch an 82-75 victory and a berth in Friday's Qualifiers Group D Final.

The Bosnian team earned a double-digit lead already in the first quarter and although Cluj Napoca reduced the deficit somewhat by the halftime interval, Igokea went on an 11-0 run late in the third stanza to stretch it to 60-42.

The Romanian side still had enough left in the gas for a late surge and Justin Edwards culminated it by drilling a triple 90 seconds from the final buzzer to reduce the deficit to 4 points, 75-71. Igokea's Stefan Fundic however stopped the rot with a layup on the next possession and Cluj Napoca run out of time.

Igokea took the vast majority of their shots from close range, scoring 46 points in the paint as they shot 26 of 49 from two-point range. Jackie Carmichael paved the way with 25 points on an excellent 10-of-13 shooting from the floor and added 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks.

Edwards meanwhile finished with 22 points and 7 boards for Cluj Napoca in a losing effort.