MIES (Switzerland) - Hapoel Holon defeated UCAM Murcia on the final day of action in Group L, putting pressure of Promitheas Patras to find a win on the road in Athens. They did just that, thanks to Hunter Hale's incredible final two minutes of the Round of 16.

Murcia entered the game in Szombathely, Hungary with a lot of scenarios going their way in cases of potential ties. The Spaniards knew that only a defeat by 26 or more points would eliminate them, so when Holon opened up a quick 31-23 lead in the second quarter, the response was swift.

Coach Sito Alonso's players put together a 19-2 run to stop the rot, and kept a small cushion until late in the game. But they could not sign off with a win , as the Israelis held them to just 7 fourth-quarter points.

 
It finished 64-60 for Holon with Justin Smith the only player in double digits for Holon, counting to 20 on the night.

Murcia's best player was the Liga Endesa February MVP Marko Todorovic, who had 23 points and 11 rebounds, keeping his team close enough to clinch the top spot even in defeat.

While Murcia knew they were safe at 4-2, Holon had to wait for the all-Greek affair to finish in Athens to see if their 4-2 record was enough to make it back to the Quarter-Finals.

They needed an AEK win by any margin, and hopes were high when the Queen went on a 12-0 run to reduce Promitheas's lead to 65-64 with just over two minutes left to play.

However, it turned out AEK were just setting the stage for Promitheas's MVP of the season contender.

 
Hale took over completely, drawing a foul on a three-pointer and making all three shots from the line, and then following up with an and-one bucket to make it a three-possession lead for Promitheas.  He  put the icing on the cake with a three-pointer and a step-back and-one.

Over the last 2:20 of the game, Hale scored 12 points. He had 15 in the final quarter alone, finished with 29 on the day to give Promitheas a 79-67 win,  which landed them at 4-2, good enough for the second-place finish in a three-way tie.

		GAMES				GAME POINTS					POINTS
#	Team	P	W	L	%	For	Agt	+/-	FA	AA
1	UCAM Murcia (1)	6	4	2	66.7	490	453	37	81.7	75.5	10
2	Promitheas Patras (1)	6	4	2	66.7	485	472	13	80.8	78.7	10
3	Hapoel Holon	6	4	2	66.7	474	480	-6	79	80	10
4	AEK BETSSON BC	6	0	6	0	490	534	-44	81.7	89	6

"It was like a dream for us to be in the top eight," Promitheas coach Ilias Papatheodorou said afterwards.

"The BCL right now is at a very high level, in terms of players, coaches, teams, organizations and that makes us very proud. We had the smallest budget in the Round of 16 and that makes us even more proud. We dedicate our qualification to all the people of Patras."

Promitheas reached their first Basketball Champions League Quarter-Finals.

UCAM Murcia made it back-to-back seasons among the elite eight, and now await the draw on Thursday in hopes of repeating (or improving on) their 2018 run.

That's when they played the Final Four in Athens, finishing third in the BCL.