MIES (Switzerland) - Have you missed the Round of 16 action in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL? If yes, welcome back. If not, please go back and rewatch these games.
Two massive wins from Spanish contenders were decided in the final stretches of the respective games, and a strong statement was delivered by a former BCL Final Four participant. Find out what happened on Tuesday night.
Elan Chalon 70-80 Unicaja
The back-to-back champions might have had a complicated route in the Round of 16 in Season X, but they are now one step closer to another participation in the BCL Final Four.
Thanks to their 80-70 road victory against Elan Chalon in France, Ibon Navarro's team are now heading to the Quarter-Finals of the competition, pushing out the French team after sweeping them in Group K.
Seven lead changes were featured in this matchup, while the two teams were tied on six occasions as well.
One of them occurred with 5:45 minutes on the clock in the third quarter, with Matheo Leray converting from deep. From then on, Unicaja went on a 15-5 run to grab a ticket for the following phase.
Nihad Dedovic erupted for an 18-point effort, leading Unicaja in scoring in such a crucial encounter.
"It wasn’t easy; we know that this court can be difficult. We are happy that we won this game because that means that we are through to the next round," he commented.
James Webb III also contributed with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, protagonist of an all-around performance just like Alberto Diaz, who ended with 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.
For Chalon, the usual suspect, Jeremiah Hill had a 20-point losing effort.
Asisa Joventut 91-84 Fitness First Wurzburg Baskets
If anybody thought that Asisa Joventut's loss to Chalon before the break would have stopped the Catalan team's run towards the Quarter-Finals, forget about it.
It might have even sparked a strong reaction for their game on Tuesday night against Fitness First Wurzburg Baskets: following their 91-84 win at home, they officially made it to the next round.
Despite a 10-run by the Germans in the third, Joventut were always in control in Badalona, propelled by a fantastic debut by Jabari Parker: he had 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals in his first BCL game.
Among Joventut's players, both Cameron Hunt and Ante Tomic led the team in scoring with 19 points.
As usual, Ricky Rubio had an all-around night with 9 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds to push Joventut to the win. Despite the loss, Marcus Carr still put up another notable 25-point performance with 6 assists, too.
Following this result, Wurzburg are now eliminated from contention in the BCL Round of 16.
"We fought, we played against a really good team, they shot 50% from the field. It’s tough to win like that that, especially against a good experienced team, especially the way we played being down 15 at the half. We stuck together, we fought. Couldn’t ask for nothing else," Wurzburg's Johnathan Stove said.
Hapoel Netanel Holon 74-87 Galatasaray MCT Technic
Bored on a Tuesday night? You can't be bored enough when Gianmarco Pozzecco's team are playing basketball. Especially if that team respond to the name of Galatasaray MCT Technic.
Waiting for their fate, which depends on whether Le Mans Sarthe Basket will beat Rytas Vilnius on Wednesday at 18:30, the Turkish side played their part, beating Hapoel Netanel Holon 87-74 away from home.
This was their 7th consecutive victory in BCL games played outside of Türkiye, and their fourth straight game with 50 or more points coming from the bench unit.
The only team with a longer such streak was Unicaja last season, with eight games in a row of bench scoring 50+ points.
Galatasaray led for 35:21 minutes, the final result was never really in doubt except for a short window in the second quarter, where the Israeli team got the temporary lead following a 9-0 run.
Galatasaray's win was connected to John Meeks' absolute show. Coming off the bench, he stepped up for a season-high night of 26 points over 7-of-8 from the field and 8-of-9 at the charity stripe.
"They made it challenging, but we got it done when we needed to. We will take it one game at a time, and we will be ready when we have to go on the court," he shared in the post-game press conference.
The yellow-and-purple team couldn't escape with the victory despite two huge personal performances by Adama Sanogo (18 points and 12 rebounds) and Jordan McRae (18 points over 8-of-8 FT).
While Holon are already out of contention, Galatasaray are now waiting for a victory from the French team to advance to the Quarter-Finals. Moreover, if Rytas lose to Le Mans, the Lithuanians will be eliminated.