MIES (Switzerland) - Tuesday evening brought another four exciting games with plenty of talking points in the Basketball Champions League, starting with the defending champions battling hard to get their first win of the season.
Filou Oostende 85-92 Unicaja
There is somewhat of an ongoing tradition in the Basketball Champions League, where the Spanish teams struggle to get the work done against Filou Oostende in Belgium. Day one of the ninth season was no different, as Dario Gjergja's men opened up a seven point lead in the second half.
But coach Ibon Navarro never panicked, and always had a plan to come back. His -ski trio delivered on the day, Dylan Osetkowski scoring 24 points in 25 minutes, Tyler Kalinoski adding 14 in just 16 minutes off the bench, and Aleksander Balcerowski coming up big down the stretch, getting five points and two blocks in the final five minutes.
Oostende were close to pulling off another upset, but Unicaja's +13 fourth quarter turned the game around completely.
The future is bright for the Belgian champs, as Noah Meeusen led them with 18 points. The point guard will only turn 19 in a month.
UCAM Murcia 97-101 Manisa Basket (OT)
The first day of the season saw the first overtime and the first upset, too. UCAM Murcia were coming into the game as a team which played the Final Four earlier in 2024, while Manisa Basket are rookies in more ways than one.
Not only was this their first BCL game ever, it was also the first European game for Saben Lee and Javon Freeman-Liberty, and they delivered.
Lee, a 25-year-old guard who spent the last two seasons with the Phoenix Suns, went off for 36 points on the day, hitting all 14 of his free throws. Freeman-Liberty will celebrate his 25th birthday in 20 days, he was a part of the Toronto Raptors and Raptors 905 last season, and he ended up with 22 points for the newest Turkish addition to the Regular Season.
The two of them scored all 18 of Manisa's points in the overtime, finishing off a game which saw a total of 20 lead changes.
Dylan Ennis scored 23 for Murcia, but missed a potential game-winning free throw with two seconds to play in regulation.
Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball 84-54 Kolossos H Hotels
Fitting in with the narrative of dominant youngsters, Nolan Traore had a monster game as Saint-Quentin picked up their first BCL win ever.
The 18-year-old guard was unstoppable in 26 minutes of action, scoring 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting, with 5 assists, 2 steals and no turnovers next to his name. Saint-Quentin were a +25 team with him on the floor, and his efficiency rating of 25 was also a game-high.
The game was a one-way street, apart from the five minutes at the end of the first and the start of the second quarter, when Kolossos took a brief lead. The French club were up by 10 by halftime, up by 25 heading into the final stanza, and coach Julien Mahe could afford to balance the minutes the rest of the way.
Paulius Danusevicius had 15 points in a losing effort for the Greek team.
Pallacanestro Reggiana 77-67 Rytas Vilnius
With Rytas Vilnius winning the Lithuanian League last season, they entered this season with a desire to add more international silverware to their trophy room. However, Reggiana had other ideas in Italy.
Using a bit of their experience and a bit of their youth, the hosts kept Rytas behind for all but five minutes of the game. Despite never leading by more than 10 points, the win was not in danger, thanks to a monster dunk by their 19-year-old center Mouhamed Faye.
He came off the bench to collect team-highs of 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks, while the 37-year-old Jamar Smith provided the leadership with 14 points, Reggiana being +12 in his 21 minutes on the court.
Gytis Radzevicius scored 14 to lead Rytas.