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Group J completed: Rytas and Bahcesehir join the Round of 16

MIES (Switzerland) - It was more than dramatic for ones, and as smooth as it gets for the others. Bahcesehir College had to work overtime to take down Filou Oostende in Game 3, while Rytas Vilnius cruised to a win over PAOK mateco in Lithuania, both using home court advantage in the deciding win-or-go-home games of their respective Play-In Series.

It seemed like the Belgian champs were going to win another road game in Istanbul, when they opened up a nine point lead with less than three minutes to play. But Yigit Arslan connected on back-to-back shots to tie the game and force overtime, giving Bahcesehir College another five minutes to fight.

They weren't letting that opportunity go that easily. Bahcesehir were in control throughout the overtime, and when it came down to seal the deal, Jerry Boutsiele had a big alley-oop dunk to send the Turkish squad to the Round of 16.


It finished 87-81, Boutsiele being the absolute hero for the home crowd, finishing with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 7 blocks and 5 assists. He tied an all-time BCL mark for most blocks in a single game, equaling the seven blocks that Sean Denison, Octavius Ellis and Emanuel Cate had previously in this competition.

Langston Hall flirted with a double-double with 9 points and 10 assists, Yigit Arslan and Jamar Smith combined for eight triples and 36 points. Breein Tyree scored 22, Vrenz Bleijenbergh 20 in a losing effort.

Meanwhile, there was no such drama in Vilnius. The Lithuanian champions used all of their capacity crowd energy to take the air out of the building as soon as possible, defeating PAOK mateco 82-63.

The final stats would suggest there wasn't a lot between them, but Rytas Vilnius dominated the game inside the arc, holding PAOK to just 13-of-33 shooting from two-point range. PAOK's 4-of-9 night from the free throw line wasn't exactly helpful to steal a win on the road, either.


Marcus Foster had yet another MVP caliber game with 19 points, Martynas Echodas had 16 and 7 rebounds, Elvar Fridriksson finished with 12 points and 6 assists.

Rytas and Bahcesehir will now move to the same Round of 16 group. They will be in Group J, alongside Telekom Baskets Bonn and BAXI Manresa.

  GAMES STREAK GAME POINTS POINTS
# Team P W L % Last 5 For Agt +/- FA AA  
1 BONN Telekom Baskets Bonn 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0
2 MANR BAXI Manresa 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0
3 BKSK Bahcesehir College 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0
4 VILN Rytas Vilnius 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0