Five takeaways: Trabzonspor, Bilbao unstoppable; Cholet 2009ers having fun

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MIES (Switzerland) - Home victories celebrated in front of their own fans, road streaks extended, quarterback passes, dominant performances, clutch three-pointers: Wednesday night had it all.

The five-game menu to conclude Week 2 of the Regular Season in Season 11 of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, didn't disappoint. Stay with us to figure out what happened in depth.

Trabzonspor's historical offense

With 15 teams, Türkiye have had the most representatives in the BCL since the competition started in 2016-17. Before Season 11, however, only one of the last eight managed to win their first two home games in the league.

Then, Trabzonspor joined Bahcesehir from 2022-23 in this special list.

Trabzon's side had a fantastic start (35-12 in the first quarter) to take down Sabah BC 100-83, staying undefeated in their first-ever BCL Group Stage.

Not only that, but Trabzonspor are only the third team in BCL history to open up their account with 93+ points in their first two games, joining Nizhny Novgorod (2018) and Manisa Basket (2024).

Selcuk Ernak's team controlled this encounter until the very end, even reaching a 28-point lead (83-55) with eight minutes to go in the final stanza.

They had 47 points from the bench and shot 51.9 percent from three.

Providing 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals, while shooting 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, Akwasi Yeboah led the hosts in scoring as one of Trabzonspor's five players ending in double digits.

Isaiah Canaan (17 points), Troy Caupain (15), Yigit Arslan (13, with 5 assists), and Xavier Tillman (10, with 5 rebounds and 4 assists) joined him to push the Turkish side.

"They scored a lot of points. We weren’t focused defensively; I think that’s one thing that we have to focus on. When we get up, we have to put our foot on their neck. And keep on the gas," Caupain said.

Sabah tried to come back into the game towards halftime, but they couldn't pull it off away from home, where they remain winless in the competition. Nick Perkins had a losing effort of 25 points and 8 rebounds.

Forrest on fire

The last time a Spanish team faced BMA365 Bamberg Baskets on the road in the BCL, things went pretty well for the hosts. Back then, in the 2020-21 season, the Germans beat Casademont Zaragoza 117-76.

Six seasons in the making, basically everything changed, except for the fact that Bamberg hosted a Spanish team with Dylan Ennis on their roster. This time, the guests finished on top, as UCAM Murcia won 86-67.

It's their sixth straight road victory in the competition. Moreover, for the first time since 2018-19, they have started the season with back-to-back wins in the BCL Group Stage, despite approaching the game down 14-2.

Michael Forrest was crucial for Murcia, contributing 25 points on 4-of-5 from deep. The team's captain, Jonah Radebaugh, put up 14 points and has now scored more than 10 in each of his last six BCL games.

It was his ninth career game against Bamberg, and the first time he scored more than 12 points against them.

Trevon Scott (12 points on 3-of-4 from the three-point range) and Hason Ward (11 points and 6 rebounds) were the only ones ending the game by scoring in double digits.

Bilbao set own record

We have been talking about brilliant home performances in at least two other games on Wednesday, with Trabzonspor and Cholet celebrating in front of their own fans. Well, Surne Bilbao joined the party as well.

After winning 96-87 during the weekend in the ACB, Jaume Ponsarnau's team almost had the same result in the BCL, as they took down SK Slavia Praha ERA NBK 97-86 in a comfortable victory.

It was their highest points total in a single BCL game, and the second time they scored 90+ this season, expanding the conversation about the best offense in this competition.

They have led for 39:18 minutes, never suffered any kind of significant comeback attempts by the guests, out-assisted them 26-14, and outscored them 42-24 in the paint.

A perfect night, basically.

The back-to-back FIBA Europe Cup champions trusted their strengthened collective unit, with four players in double digits. Among them, Martin Krampelj (19 points) and Margiris Normantas (14+6+4) shone off the bench.

The veteran Jaromir Bohacik (17 points and 4 rebounds) and the newcomer Ronaldo Segu (16 points and 4 assists) provided the best efforts for Slavia Praha. However, they weren't enough to go back home with a win.

Cholet's kids are alright

It must be a good week to be a French team in the BCL Regular Season. On Tuesday, Nanterre 92 had a blowout win against Rytas Vilnius, while on Wednesday another representative from France celebrated at home.

After starting the season with a victory for the first time since playing in the BCL, Cholet Basket had another victory, this time in front of their fans at La Meilleraie, winning 84-66 against RASTA Vechta.

It wasn't an easy night in all four quarters, as Cholet had to come back from -12 (32-20) in the second quarter by entering a 20-0 run that led them all the way to 40-32.

Since then, they never slowed down.

"I thought our defensive intensity, our levels, and our execution of the game plan were really good. I honestly feel like that’s the reason we won the game," Jarrod West said in the post-game press conference.

Everybody contributed scoring-wise to Cholet's victory, with Mohamed Diarra leading once again with 14 points and 9 rebounds.

The 17-year-old Aaron Towo-Nansi shone with 9 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds, while Amadou Fall - another kid born in 2009 - added 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists to the mix.

Fabrice Lefrançois' streak of consecutive games with 10+ three-pointers stopped at 8 games, as they shot 9-of-23 on Wednesday night against Vechta.

Armaan Franklin finished with 14 points, but he couldn't prevent Vechta's second consecutive loss in Season 11.

Two-and-a-half hour thriller in Serbia

The reason why Vechta are alone at the bottom of Group F is strictly related to how things went in Subotica's Hala Sportova Dudova Šuma between the hosts, Serbian champions Spartak Office Shoes, and Hapoel Maoz Daniel Holon.

Despite only leading for less than two minutes in the whole encounter, Spartak almost came back for an end-game lead, building a 9-1 run to reach -1 (80-79) with two minutes to go.

They even had a shot to win it with 1.2 left on the game clock, but it did not drop as time expired.

In the end, Holon pulled off a win, 86-84.

A huge block by the purple-and-yellow Israeli team's latest newcomer, T.J. Holyfield, was crucial for the guests.

Once again, it was a dominant night by Adama Sanogo, who was extremely important for his team on both sides of the floor, ending with 28 points (9-of-11 FG and 7-of-9 FT), 5 blocks, and 4 rebounds.

Despite missing the potential game-winning three-pointer, Jalon Pipkins still had the leading performance for Spartak, finishing with 19 points and 3 steals at home.

Igor Drobnjak had one of his all-around nights with 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.