MIES (Switzerland) - They have been trying to make statements in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, for six seasons. On March 18, Rytas Vilnius wrote the club's history books.
With authority, sacrifice from glue guys, and a well-prepared coaching plan by Giedrius Zibenas, the Lithuanians had a fantastic win in Istanbul to make it to the Quarter-Finals. Stay with us to figure out how it went down.
# | TEAM | W | L | For | Agt | +/- |
|
1 | 4 | 2 | 560 | 508 | +52 | 10 | |
2 | 4 | 2 | 520 | 501 | +19 | 10 | |
3 | 4 | 2 | 538 | 527 | +11 | 10 | |
4 | 0 | 6 | 511 | 593 | -82 | 6 |
Galatasaray MCT Technic 81-90 Rytas Vilnius
Thanks to their run thus far in the BCL Round of 16, Galatasaray MCT Technic earned the opportunity of basically being qualified even with a 30-point loss against Rytas on Wednesday night.
At the same time, the Lithuanians wanted to prove their value against a former BCL Final Four participant, and escaped from Istanbul not only with the 90-81 win, but also with the home court advantage in the Quarter-Finals.
It took them six seasons since they joined the competition back in 2020-21 to advance this far, but they have finally made it. And now they are ready to make more noise among the best eight teams in the league.
Following an early lead by Gianmarco Pozzecco's team, the Lithuanians responded well and never lost control of the game after the 5:47 mark in the first quarter. They had a late 9-0 run to go from 75-75 to 84-75 and seal the deal in Istanbul.
Two local heroes were crucial for Rytas in getting the win over Galatasaray on the road: Gytis Masilius (25 points, 8-of-11 from the field) and Simonas Lukosius (22 points over 5-of-7 from deep, 7 rebounds).
Kay Bruhnke had arguably the dunk of the season, en route to 12 points.
On the other hand, Galatasaray won the battle in the paint, outscoring the opponents 40-24, but shot only 7-of-29 (24.1%) from beyond the arc.
An absolute stellar night by Errick McCollum, who produced a vintage 26-point performance in front of their fans, wasn't enough for the Turkish Lions to get to the Quarter-Finals as the first-classified team in Group I.
I would like to point out two names that maybe would never make the paper, but Ignas [Urbonas], the underage player, and Gantas [Krizanauskas] came in tonight with maybe no expectation of playing, but they stepped up in a huge role, playing unbelievable defense and doing whatever it takes to win this game.
For the first time ever, Galatasaray have lost three games in a row in their own country in the BCL. To make it to Badalona, they will have to beat one of the following: Unicaja, La Laguna Tenerife, and AEK BC or ALBA BERLIN.
Le Mans Sarthe Basket 102-92 Hapoel Netanel Holon
Heading to the last matchup of the Round of 16 in Group I, Le Mans Sarthe Basket only needed one result to keep hoping about making it to the Quarter-Finals: a win against Hapoel Netanel Holon.
Keeping an eye open from the sideline on what was happening between Galatasaray and Rytas in Istanbul, Guillaume Vizade's team played their part, beating the opponents 102-92 and improving to 4-2.
However, following the red-and-black Lithuanian team's success in Türkiye, the French team lost their opportunity to advance to the Quarter-Finals, staying 3rd in Group I and missing out on making it to the next round.
The final outcome was never in discussion in Le Mans, as the hosts never trailed against the yellow-and-purple side from Israel. They also shared the ball way better than Holon, outassisting the losing side 30-18.
Six players finished in double-digits for the French team: Bastien Grasshoff (17), TaShawn Thomas (16), Travante Williams (14), Trevor Hudgins (14), David DiLeo (12), and Jonathan Jeanne (10).
"It’s definitely mixed feelings. It’s a little bittersweet. For me personally, I was looking forward to trying to make a run in the (Basketball) Champions League. It’s been my fifth or sixth time on different teams in the Champions League, so I was looking forward to doing that, but it really sucks that we’ve played well and won like we did in this round and we’re not moving forward and advancing, but that’s part of Champions League basketball," TaShawn Thomas said.
"I feel like every year something like this happens. It just sucks that this year it’s our turn. Next year it’ll be someone else’s turn, so like I said, we just move on and try to stay humble about the situation."
It was also the right occasion to see the young 2008-born Swann Penda appear on the court, even capturing the spotlight dunking from the weak side.
The same number of players scored in double-digits for Holon as well: Darin Green Jr. and Adama Sanogo led the way at 17 points, followed by Damion Rosser (16), Jordan McRae (14), Idan Zalmanson (13), and Netanel Artzi (11).
Despite such a scoring contribution overall, Predrag Krunic's team concluded this chapter in the BCL Round of 16 without a single win, at the bottom of Group I with a 0-6 record.