MIES (Switzerland) - In Group L, La Laguna Tenerife already knew they were the group winners, but their game was fun to follow because of a certain legend making his debut.
Meanwhile, ERA Nymburk came up with one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL.
Dreamland Gran Canaria 82-92 ERA Nymburk
When we published the permutations ahead of Gameday 6 in the Group Phase in December, this sentence was in there:
Nymburk will be eliminated if they lose and Sabah win
The perennial Czech champs did lose their game to Elan Chalon, but Sabah lost to ALBA BERLIN, meaning ERA Nymburk advanced to the Play-Ins with a 1-5 record.
They sailed through to the Round of 16 by sweeping MLP Academics Heidelberg without home court advantage, and despite losing their top scorer Sir' Jabari Rice, they showed resilience once more, picking up three wins in a loaded Group L to reach the Quarter-Finals.
On Tuesday, they knew they needed a four-point win over Gran Canaria, arguably one of the toughest home arenas in European basketball.
But coach Oren Amiel came up with a masterplan that saw his team pour in 31 fourth quarter points, capped off by a deep triple by Goran Filipovic to seal the deal and eliminate one of the contenders for the title.
Filipovic had 15 points, and Nymburk were a +22 team in his 23 minutes of work.
J.T. Shumate was on fire with six triples and 22 points, Jaromir Bohacik had the veteran leadership with 16 points, while Tony Perkins scored five of his 11 points in the clutch.
"Nothing I can do as a coach can work without my team. As far as the players, they know the love that we have in the team, but especially my staff around me. The assistant coaches, the management, the team manager, the physios, the med staff... This is a unique place to work and even though I’m many years familiar with the club, this is something I can never take for granted," coach Amiel said.
Nicolas Brussino scored 19 for Gran Canaria, but they are out of the hunt.
Pallacanestro Trieste 82-76 La Laguna Tenerife
Playing for pride, Trieste secured a memorable win over one of the biggest teams in BCL history.
Jahmi'us Ramsey destroyed Tenerife's defense with 31 points, knocking down 10-of-21 shots from the field and 10-of-12 from the charity stripe, while also adding 5 rebounds and 4 steals to the mix.
Lodovico Deangeli was the only other Trieste player in double digits with 12.
"I was born and raised in Trieste like Andrea Bussani, our physiotherapist, everything. He’s been here for 25 years, so, BCL - we touched the sky with our hands, because two years ago we were in the second division, not sure if we could win the championship. Right now we are here so, we enjoy tonight like we won the BCL," Deangeli was emotional after the win.
Big reason why? Patty Mills was on the other side.
"I’m a basketball fan before a basketball player and I’ve been watching him on TV my whole life and today we won our amazing game so we are amazingly happy!"
The legendary Australian shooting guard made his debut by scoring 9 points in 16 minutes of work for Tenerife. The chemistry between him and Marcelinho Huertas was evident from the first moment, and knowing they had already won this group, these were important minutes to ease the process of fitting in with the team for Mills.
Tenerife will be seeded in the draw on Friday, while Nymburk join the unseeded pot.