05 October, 2021
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Lenovo Tenerife, Falco Szombathely close Round of 16 with wins

MIES (Switzerland) - On the final day of the Round of 16, teams in Group I were still playing for Quarter-Finals spots up for grabs, but Group L was an exception, as the two teams through to the elite eight were already known.

Lenovo Tenerife and SIG Strasbourg had already locked up their spots in the next round, so the game between the two of them could have been viewed as a tune-up to get ready for the next round.

Tenerife finished the Round of 16 as the only undefeated team at 6-0 after a 71-66 victory over Strasbourg, sending the French team to 3-3.

 

Tenerife have now won their last seven games in the Basketball Champions League, their longest winning streak in the competition since they won seven in a row between October – December 2019.

After Strasbourg took a 58-54 lead with 5:58 left in the fourth quarter, Tenerife went on a 17-8 run to close the game out, with Marcelinho Huertas scoring 8 of those points during the run.

Huertas and Bruno Fitipaldo both scored 12 points each and combined to shoot 7-of-14 from the field, while Fitipaldo and Giorgi Shermadini combined for 22 of the team's 37 points from the bench.

"We had the chance to share minutes with many players and we did it," said Tenerife head coach Txus Vidoretta. "And finally, we tried as always to win the game and we did a very good job in the last five minutes, offense and defense to finish the game. We are very happy because ... 4-2 in the [regular season] group and 2-1 in the Play-In. Now we finished [Round of 16] 6-0, that's very good for us."

Both Tenerife and Strasbourg now await their opponent which will be determined at the Quarter-Finals draw on Friday. Tenerife will get home-court advantage in their upcoming best-of-three series, while Strasbourg will not.

 

Neither Falco Szombathely nor Rytas Vilnius could advance to the Quarter-Finals from Group L, but they were still looking to close their respective BCL seasons on a high note, and Szombathely were the ones to do so thanks to an 86-81 win, their first one in the Round of 16.

Szombathely finished this round 1-5 and Rytas capped off their group play at 2-4.

Zoltan Perl led all scorers with 25 points along with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, while Benedek Varadi almost recorded a triple-double with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists.

Perl has now scored 165 points off the bench, the most by any player in the BCL this season.

"I think with this game, we finished a successful BCL season," said Perl. "We can be proud of this and thank you for the fans for always supporting us in every game. It doesn't matter if we play at home or away. They were always with us."