17 October, 2023
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The Great Eight: Holston flirts with a record while sending Dijon to Round of 16

MIES (Switzerland) - Four games, two overtimes. On a night with a lot of close calls and excitement, it was David Holston and JDA Bourgogne Dijon that stole the headlines in the Basketball Champions League.

Holston came close to breaking a former teammate's all-time BCL record, as Dijon won five straight games for the first time ever in this competition. Off to a 5-0 start, they also booked a direct trip to the Round of 16.

Here are all the results of the day:

  • Tofas Bursa (2-3) v Igokea m:tel (0-5): 99-65
  • BK Opava (0-5) v Rytas Vilnius (3-2): 75-95
  • Promitheas Patras (2-3) v JDA Bourgogne Dijon (5-0): 68-71 (OT)
  • Filou Oostende (2-3) v SIG Strasbourg (3-2): 87-84 (OT)

Now, in line with this being Season 8 of the BCL, here are the Great Eight, the standout numbers of the day.

Most points

Filou Oostende and SIG Strasbourg met for the 10th time in BCL history, making this the most played matchup of all time in this competition. Over the previous nine games, Strasbourg especially enjoyed their trips to Belgium, because they were 4-0 in Oostende, and with Phil Booth on their side now, the story was writing itself.

And it looked like Booth would end up a hero in a low-scoring affair by his standards with 13 points, as he made the game-tying layup and sent the game to overtime.


However, Filou Oostende bounced back and did not let their former teammate breaks their hearts on a Tuesday evening. Khalil Ahmad took it upon himself in the overtime to steer the ship back home and secure Oostende's second win of the season, even though Tyrus McGee had one last chance to send it to double OT, but missed the shot.

But overtime would not have happened at al if Quinton Hooker did not do his thing in the first 40 minutes. The Strasbourg guard had 25 points, his previous BCL career-high was 16 points.

It was not enough though and Strasbourg dropped to 3-2. With EWE Baskets Oldenburg playing host to Pinar Karsiyaka in the other game this week, this group could get so complicated that it finishes in a four-way tie at 3-3...

Most rebounds

BK Opava put up a decent fight against Rytas Vilnius, staying within single digits for stretches in the third quarter, but the Lithuanian giants had another gear in them, storming through to a 20-point win.

Martynas Echodas grabbed a day-high 13 rebounds, to go along with his 18 points in a monster double-double, and his showing fit in perfectly with a record-breaking number for Rytas.

They grabbed 31 offensive rebounds, the most ever by any team in a single game in BCL history!


Most assists

Igokea's campaign has been abysmal, and with a heavy defeat on the road in Turkiye, their chances of reaching the Play-Ins have officially evaporated. But still, there were some nice performances from their guys, including Edin Atic, who had a solid 12-point, 7-assist, 5-rebound, 2-steal, 2-block game against Tofas Bursa.

Most steals

Dijon entered the week with a perfect record, but well aware that they could end up in third place with a couple of defeats in the last two games. That's why it was paramount for them to get the job done as soon as possible.

Promitheas had their own plans of upsetting the odds and getting back into the win column, and after Cameron Reynolds hit a crazy shot to beat the buzzer and tie the score with 33 seconds left in the fourth quarter, it seemed like the stars were on their side.

However, a gigantic cloud hid those stars just 28 seconds later. De'Shawn Stephens drew a foul with five ticks on the clock but missed both of his shots from the charity stripe, and the game went to overtime.


That's when David Holston said 'enough is enough'. The legendary guard saw his team struggled offensively so he decided to win the game defensively, with clutch stops coming throughout the game, and a crowning moment when he stripped Tim Frazier in overtime.

Holston had 7 steals on the day, just one short of the BCL all-time record, held by his former teammate Jeremy Leloup. He was a SIG Strasbourg player when he came up up 8 steals in October 2017, and then went on to join Holston and Dijon a year later.

Dijon went on to reach the Semi-Finals in 2020, and now have three straight trips to the Round of 16.

Group B

  GAMES STREAK GAME POINTS POINTS
# Team P W L % Last 5 For Agt +/- FA AA  
1 JDA JDA Bourgogne Dijon (1) 5 5 0 100   449 362 87 89.8 72.4 10
2 VILN Rytas Vilnius (2) 5 3 2 60.0   430 378 52 86 75.6 8
3 PROM Promitheas Patras (2) 5 2 3 40.0   416 378 38 83.2 75.6 7
4 OPA BK Opava 5 0 5 0   335 512 -177 67 102.4 5
(1) Qualified for Round of 16
(2) Qualified for Play-Ins
 
Most blocks

Austin Wiley of Tofas Bursa is one of the most effective players in the League. He had 9 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks on the day, getting a rating of 20 in the efficiency tab, while playing just 19 minutes on the day.

No wonder he was a recommendation in the BCL Fantasy tips this week.

Best +/-

Wiley's teammates Zeljko Sakic and Caleb Homesley were both +33. Honorable mention goes out to Servaas Buysschaert (+13) and Jean Salumu (+10), both reached double figures in an overtime win which finished at +3.

Highest efficiency

Another Tofas player - Luke Maye. Coming off the bench, he went for 19 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal to put together the highest efficiency on the day at 28.


Most three-pointers made

Tofas, again. Caleb Homesley had five threes, and he seemed to enjoy playing against Igokea this season, because he made 9 of his 18 total threes this season in two encounters against the BIH champions.