08 October, 2019
04 October, 2020
2 Ryan Toolson (MANR)
05/12/2019
News
to read

Team of the Week: Toolson, Perl, Ulmer, Margaritis and Grant

MIES (Switzerland) - Two thrilling double-overtime games stole the limelight on Gameday 7 but some huge -and largely unexpected - road wins were vastly more significant in terms of movement in the standings.

The Team of the Week reflects the important success of those road warriors, as only one player on the team enjoyed the comforts of home this week.

The five players who make up Team of the Week for Gameday 7 in the 2019-20 Basketball Champions League Regular Season are Ryan Toolson of BAXI Manresa, Zoltan Perl of Falco Szombathely, Lamonte Ulmer of JDA Dijon, Evangelos Margaritis of PAOK and Jerai Grant of SIG Strasbourg.

Let's have a closer look at each one's exploits on Gameday 7:

RYAN TOOLSON - Guard, BAXI Manresa


The 34-year old sharp-shooter has earned a reputation throughout his long career in Europe as a player who will take -and make - any shot, so the fact he is Manresa's leading scorer in the BCL  is hardly surprising.

On Tuesday however, in a very physically demanding clash, Toolson came up big in the clutch to guide Manresa to their first ever road win in the competition and did so at the home court of Dinamo Sassari, previously a fortress.

The veteran scored 9 points, including a crucial jumper with 59 seconds on the clock, dished out 2 assists and came up with a steal in the final seven-minute stretch, for Manresa to clinch a 74-73 victory.

Toolson finished with 24 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the field (4 of 8 from three-point range), 4 assists and 3 steals for an efficiency rating of 21. The American-born guard has registered that same efficiency rating in three games so far in this BCL campaign, and on all three occasions Manresa ended up winning.

ZOLTAN PERL - Guard/Forward, Falco Szombathely


Seven games into Falco's maiden campaign in the BCL, Perl becomes the first ever player of the Hungarian champions to earn a spot on Team of the Week, behind yet another spectacular display at home.

In Wednesday's game against Neptunas Klaipeda, Perl came off the bench with about three minutes left in the opening quarter and, as a man in a hurry, he had an immediate impact.

The Hungarian international collected 21 points in 21 minutes of action as he shot 9 of 12 from two-point range, while he also added 7 assists and 5 rebounds to propel Falco as they pulled away from their Lithuanian visitors to claim a head-turning 97-73 victory.

Perl's performance was rated at 26 in terms of efficiency, his second-best of the season so far, and he is now leading his team in that respect with an average efficiency rating of 18.

LAMONTE ULMER - Small Forward, JDA Dijon


The Dijon small forward became on Tuesday the first player in competition history to collect at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals in a single game.

Ulmer accomplished this feat by stuffing the stat sheet as the French team rolled over Besiktas Sompo Sigorta 98-65 on the road, finishing with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 7 steals for a career-high efficiency rating of 36.

The 33-year-old winger collected his 23 points on 9 of 13 from the floor, which is his best shooting display in the BCL, but this is not the most impressive part of his stat line.

Ulmer's 7 steals are not only a BCL season-high but also the second-most steals in a single game in the history of the competition only behind one of his current team-mates. Jérémy Leloup had 8 steals in a game against Union Olimpija in October 2017, albeit back then he was playing for SIG Strasbourg.

EVANGELOS MARGARITIS - Power Forward, PAOK


The veteran forward peeled back the years on Wednesday night and delivered his first double-digit scoring display of this campaign at just the right moment, for PAOK to clinch an 85-83 win at Telekom Baskets Bonn.

PAOK had trailed their hosts by 13 points, then went up by 9 only to squander that lead, and the 37-year-old Greek returned to the floor with just over four minutes remaining to show the youngsters how it's done.

He hit a big corner three to tie the scores at 81-all and then, 17 seconds from the final buzzer, he executed a perfect pick n roll play with JeQuan Lewis to score the game-winner for his team, who celebrated their first road win this season.

Margaritis finished with 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals for a season-high efficiency rating of 20. He is the second PAOK player to earn a spot on Team of the Week this season after Adam Smith on Gameday 6, who also earned MVP honors.

JERAI GRANT - Power Forward, SIG Strasbourg


Strasbourg picked up on Wednesday an 83-75 victory at previously unbeaten at home Turk Telekom, and the only reason they made this tough win look easy was because they hit the ground running and executed perfectly from early on.

Jerai Grant was one of the driving forces behind the French team's excellent start, scoring 10 of his 14 points already in the first half and helping Strasbourg space the floor on offense with his mobility and relentless hassle against bigger opponents in the paint.

The 30-year-old forward is the first Strasbourg player to earn a spot on Team of the Week this season, and his selection reflects the fact the French side pulled off perhaps the most surprising result of the week, by registering their first road win at the homecourt of the team that were the Group A joint leaders going into Gameday 7.

Grant finished with 14 points on 7 of 10 from the field, 4 rebounds and a season-high 4 assists, for an efficiency rating of 19.