17 October, 2023
05 May, 2024
14 Leonidas Kaselakis (PERI), 0 Matt Lewis (MSB)
06/12/2023
Review
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The Great Eight: Lewis & Jones hand down the verdict in Peristeri court

MIES (Switzerland) - Wednesday's five-game slate brought a lot of big individual performances all over the continent. Le Mans Sarthe Basket's guards looked unstoppable, while King Szczecin outlasted (coach) Joshua King and his MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg for the upset of the day.

Here are all the results of the day:

  • Hapoel Holon (3-2) v Telekom Baskets Bonn (3-2): 65-72
  • Bursaspor Info Yatirim (2-3) v Rio Breogan (2-3): 77-65
  • King Szczecin (2-3) v MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg (2-3): 80-60
  • Peristeri bwin (2-3) v Le Mans Sarthe Basket (3-2): 78-86
  • Unicaja (4-1) v Falco Vulcano Szombathely (1-4): 88-65

In line with this being Season 8 of the Basketball Champions League, we went through all the numbers, and picked the eight best performances.

Most points

Le Mans Sarthe Basket went to Greece knowing that a potential loss could put their entire BCL campaign in danger, since they still have to travel to Hungary to face Falco Vulcano Szombathely - a team which defeated them with ease in France - on the last gameday.

With that in mind, coach Elric Delord found a release valve for all of that pressure, by giving his backcourt the full trust to go out there and get the big win, to complete the sweep over Peristeri bwin and give Le Mans homecourt advantage in the next phase.

Lewis and Jones sounds like the name of a law firm, but on Wednesday Matt Lewis and DeVante' Jones formed a partnership that could not fail on the basketball court.


Jones had 20 points, done on 7-of-11 shooting as a starter, and Lewis was even better, reaching a day-high 22 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting night, including 4-of-4 from the three-point line.

Lewis became just the fourth player in BCL history with 20+ points while shooting 100 percent from the field and the free-throw line. The first three players to pull it off were Simas Jasaitis (Lietkabelis, October 2018), Michele Vitali (Brose Bamberg, March 2021) and Ivan Strebkov (Nizhny Novgorod, December 2021).


Lewis, who will celebrate his 25th birthday this month, is now averaging 14.0 points per game on shooting splits of 69 percent from the field, 47 percent from three-point range and 73 percent from the free throw line.

Le Mans overturned a 15-point deficit, making it their biggest comeback ever in the BCL. They will face the third-placed team from Group B in the Play-Ins, with homecourt advantage in that best-of-three tie.

Most rebounds

Telekom Baskets Bonn lost the first matchup with Hapoel Holon by missing a wide open three-pointer at the buzzer.

The defending champions know how important it is to get any tiebreaker possible in the BCL, so they went to game two of that matchup full of motivation to turn things around.

That was especially easy to see with Savion Flagg. Everything he did was all about energy, and his leadership skills lifted Bonn to a seven-point win. It earned them the head-to-head over Holon and pole position in Group F with just a game left to play.


Flagg posted a double-double of 12 points and a day-high 11 rebounds, while adding 4 steals to the mix. Bonn were a +15 team with him on the floor, no wonder coach Roel Moors gave him the second most minutes on the night.

Most assists

Le Mans did win the game, but Joe Ragland played arguably his best one for Peristeri. The incredible point guard finished with 10 points and 11 assists, nobody else was in double figures in assists on Wednesday, and it was another milestone unlocked for the lefty legend.

This was Ragland's 10th double-double in the BCL, making him the first player to reach double digits in double-doubles in League history.

Most steals

Noah Kirkwood struggled in his first matchup with Holon. Struggles were nowhere to be found for the Bonn all-rounder on Wednesday though as, he had 12 points and needed just 17 minutes to get 5 steals.

Most blocks

Coming into this week, Peristeri center Trevor Thompson had a total of 5 blocks in 12 BCL games. On Wednesday, he blocked five shots in 27 minutes of action, but not even his 13-point, 7-rebound, 5-block showing could save Vassilis Spanoulis' team.

They fell to third spot, knowing they will need to win at least one road game against the second-placed team from Group B in the Play-In Series in January to obtain a ticket to the Round of 16.

Best +/-

Unicaja were on another level against Falco Vulcano Szombathely. Their bench scored 50 points, and Will Thomas was part of it, enjoying the run that saw him go +22 in just 18 minutes of work, celebrating the fact that Unicaja clinched the top seed in Group A with a game to play.

Honorable mention: King Szczecin's guard Andrzej Mazurczak. The Polish champs handed MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg a 20-point defeat to claim the tiebreaker, and come within inches of winning the second spot in the group, behind only AEK BETSSON BC.

Group D
  GAMES STREAK GAME POINTS POINTS
# Team P W L % Last 5 For Agt +/- FA AA  
1 AEK AEK BETSSON BC (1) 5 5 0 100   449 378 71 89.8 75.6 10
2 SZCZ King Szczecin 5 2 3 40.0   392 399 -7 78.4 79.8 7
3 LUD MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg 5 2 3 40.0   397 411 -14 79.4 82.2 7
4 DSS Banco di Sardegna Sassari 5 1 4 20.0   412 462 -50 82.4 92.4 6

Mazurczak flirted with a triple-double the first time they played in Ludwigsburg, and now came back with 19 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, getting a game-high +21 in the boxscore. None of his teammates were higher than +14.

Highest efficiency

Matt Lewis again, with 26 in this one. However, Justin Anderson of Rio Breogan was a beast in defeat in Turkiye. He had 18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks and efficiency 25, but you must be wondering why are we praising a player in defeat.

That's because he single-handedly prevented Bursaspor Info Yatirim from winning the tiebreaker. Rio Breogan won the first matchup by 20, and Bursaspor had a 20-point advantage in the fourth quarter in this one, before Anderson went on a solo run to close out the game and trim the gap to 12 points.

Group F
  GAMES STREAK GAME POINTS POINTS
# Team P W L % Last 5 For Agt +/- FA AA  
1 BONN Telekom Baskets Bonn 5 3 2 60.0   405 376 29 81 75.2 8
2 HOLO Hapoel Holon 5 3 2 60.0   389 381 8 77.8 76.2 8
3 BREO Rio Breogan 5 2 3 40.0   365 367 -2 73 73.4 7
4 BURS Bursaspor Info Yatirim 5 2 3 40.0   364 399 -35 72.8 79.8 7

Both teams are now at 2-3, but the Spaniards know they would advance if they remained tied with the Turks after Gameday 6. Breogan play host to Bonn, Bursaspor travel to Riga to face Holon, meaning there is a possibility of a four-way tie at 3-3.

Most three-pointers made

Conner Frankamp is not too shy when it comes to shooting. He tied the all-BCL season-high with 11 three-pointers attempted, making five of them.