MIES (Switzerland) - With one game left to be played in Group B, both ALBA BERLIN and Elan Chalon could still dream of extending their stay in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, to the Sweet 16.
However, Tuesday's reality says that only one team can already see themselves among the 16 best teams in the competition. How did they do it, though? In a pretty unexpected way. Stay with us to find out more.
ALBA BERLIN 106-82 Sabah BC
Since the news about ALBA getting to the BCL in Season X broke, everybody was expecting the German powerhouse to be among the best teams in the whole competition.
After six games in the BCL Regular Season, they can at least consider themselves as one of the eight teams that already got a direct ticket to the dream destination: the BCL Round of 16.
If their debut in the league surprised everybody as they lost late in the opener to Chalon, their latest clash with Sabah BC had them prevail 106-82, but in an unexpected fashion.
Pedro Calles' team had to win to secure the first position in Group B, but the Azeri team had a fantastic first half to get their biggest lead of the game at 38-30 with five minutes to play before halftime.
Returning to the court, ALBA was a different beast, as they entered a 14-0 run to go up 66-51 in the third already. They are leading the league in assists, and on Tuesday, they out-assisted the opponents 27-18.
The German powerhouse had five players in double-digits: Moses Wood (17 points), Norris Agbakoko (16 points), Sam Griesel (15 points), Bennet Hundt (14 points and 11 assists), and Justin Bean (10 points).
After this victory, ALBA will now get back to BCL action in the Round of 16, playing in Group J alongside AEK BC and two more teams that will come out of the Play-In series.
Despite dreaming of a different outcome in the first half, Sabah's campaign has come to an early end.
The Azeri team, which participated in the competition for the first time in the club's history, was eliminated from contention in Group B despite Gerry Blakes' 20-point effort.
Elan Chalon 97-84 ERA Nymburk
Following their latest defeat to ALBA, Chalon knew a victory against Nymburk in the remaining game of the BCL Regular Season couldn't be enough to grab a ticket for the Round of 16.
However, they still played their part, knowing they first had to deliver in their own game before looking at what was happening in Uber Arena. Unfortunately for the Czech champs, they started the game on an outstanding note.
Elric Delord's team made a statement from the very beginning, ending the first half up by 26 points (60-34) to eventually control later on in the second, winning 97-84 in front of their people.
Scoring the exact same amount of points against Nymburk in the reverse fixture, Chalon dominated the game from start to finish despite being outrebounded (39-44) and out-assisted (20-27) by the Czech side.
As expected, Jeremiah Hill was the absolute leader of the French team, ending with a winning effort of 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Zac Cuthbertson added 19 points over 7-of-8 from the field.
"First and the most important was that our energy was high, which is what a big part of our culture is, to play with positive energy. Once we did that, plus the start we had, it was really good," Hill said.
Getting to Season X from the BCL Qualifiers, Chalon can extend their stay in the competition by winning their series in the Play-Ins, where they will have the home-court advantage.
Chalon will now face the third-placed team from Group A, which will be one of Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola, Legia Warszawa, or MLP Academics Heidelberg.
Despite being on the losing side of things, Nymburk can also celebrate as they qualified for the Play-Ins by grabbing the third-placed position in Group B.
Moreover, following his 20-point performance shooting 6-of-7 from beyond the arc, Sir' Jabari Rice wrote BCL history on Tuesday, becoming the first player ever to score at least 20 points for six consecutive games.