SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA (Tenerife) - While it may have looked easy at times this season for Iberostar Tenerife in the Basketball Champions League, star forward Tim Abromaitis insists it's been anything but for the outfit that is just two wins away from a second title in the competition's three-year history.

The Canary Islanders won their first six games in the Regular Season and finished with a 12-2 record to end up two victories clear of Umana Reyer Venezia and four ahead of Nanterre 92 and PAOK in Group B.

They have once again made it to the Final Four, knocking off Promitheas Patras in the Round of 16 and then Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem in the Quarter-Finals. Abromaitis, though, a key man in the championship-winning campaign of two years ago, says it's not been straightforward at all.

“EVERY WEEK WE HAD ANOTHER CHALLENGE. IT'S BEEN GOOD FOR US, LIKE WE'VE PLAYED REALLY WELL BUT IT'S DEFINITELY BEEN CHALLENGING AND SEEMS LIKE THE COMPETITION KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER.”- Abromaitis

"I think it (the competition level) keeps getting better," he said of the BCL on this week's Coast to Coast Podcast on championsleague.basketball.

"When the season started and we saw the list of teams, we knew this was going to be a pretty good challenge just to make it to the Final Four, even just to do well in our group. We finished first, but with our group having Nanterre, Venice, (UNET) Holon, Bonn, those are all really good teams.

"Every week we had another challenge. It's been good for us, like we've played really well but it's definitely been challenging and seems like the competition keeps getting better and better."

At 6-0 and at home to PAOK on November 21, Tenerife received a warning as to how a slip-up could easily happen with the Greek team claiming a 66-65 win. Umana Reyer Venezia also won at Tenerife on January 15, 80-78, for another danger sign.

After having to claw their way back from a 69-57 defeat at Promitheas in Patras, Greece, in the first leg of the Round of 16, something they did by winning the second leg, 79-57, Tenerife again overcame a first-leg deficit in the Quarter-Finals to Hapoel, who led by as many as 10 points in Jerusalem before prevailing, 75-73.

At home on Wednesday in the second leg, Iberostar Tenerife trailed 10-9 for a 3-point deficit on aggregate before Abromaitis scored with a lay-up to trigger a 15-0 run that put the Spanish side in front to stay.

Abromaitis, who had 16 points in the first leg, went on to pour in 21 in the second, and also grab 9 rebounds, and Tenerife won 81-64 for a 154 -139 triumph on aggregate.

Abromaitis was 4 of 6 (66.7 percent) from 3-point range in the second leg while Tenerife as a team were 12 of 40 (40 percent).

"Another thing was that Javier Beiran, who has been one of our leaders, didn't play in the first game and was limited in the second game, so people had to step up and it just so happened I got some more touches and was lucky enough to knock some shots down," Abromaitis said.

Many people at the beginning of the season expected Jerusalem to reach the Final Four and as the year wore on, they looked more and more formidable.

Tenerife were decisive winners, however.

“WE WERE DOWN TO PROMITHEAS, (AND) LOSING BY NINE (45-46) AT HALF-TIME AT JERUSALEM, BUT NO ONE WAS NERVOUS. WE KNEW TO LOOK AT IT LIKE IT WAS AN 80-MINUTE GAME, THAT WE HAD 60 MINUTES STILL TO GO AND THAT HELPED US TO COME BACK.”- Abromaitis

"Hapoel is obviously a great offensive team with a lot of talent at every position," Abromaitis said. "We threw a lot of defenses at them but mainly, we just played really aggressively with a lot of energy and focus.

"Maybe we got lucky they were missing some shots but I think we were forcing them into tough ones and really did a good job of scouting them and knowing their strengths and being able to slow them down a little like other teams haven't been able to do."

The experience of two previous seasons when they made they had made the Play-Offs helped Tenerife, too.

"I think it definitely helps," Abromaitis said. "When we won it two years ago, we didn't win either of the first games, in the Round of 16 or in the Quarter-Finals. Last year, we won the first game (against UCAM Murcia) and lost the second to get bounced out of the Round of 16.

"So I think we all knew that no matter what happened in the first leg, everything is still in the air, it was up for grabs in the second leg. We were down to Promitheas, losing by nine (45-46) at half-time at Jerusalem, but no one was nervous. We knew to look at it like it was an 80-minute game, that we had 60 minutes still to go and that helped us to come back."

The challenge should be bigger this year at the Final Four because unlike two years ago, Iberostar Tenerife will not stage the event. Instead, it will be hosted by Telenet Giants Antwerp. Segafredo Virtus Bologna and Brose Bamberg will also be at the Final Four, which is May 3-5.

Abromaitis just wants to savor the fact that he and his teammates will once again be there.

"It's nice," he said. "Not an easy road to get here but from the start, the goal of the team was to get back to the Final Four. We were obviously really disappointed last year when we didn't make it and were knocked out in the Round of 16 but it feels great to be back in the Final Four and to be able to compete for another title, hopefully."