SAMOKOV (Bulgaria) - The Basketball Champions League Qualification Round Tournaments ahead of Season 11's Group Stage have been treating us pretty well, with plenty of shocking and surprising results.
Did you really think that Friday would have worked out differently? Well, figure it out yourself: let's find out what happened in the QRT1 Semi-Finals in Samokov, with two teams qualifying for the Final showdown on Sunday.
Salon Vilpas 90-72 Bakken Bears Aarhus
Prior to Friday's Semi-Finals, Salon Vilpas had to go through Patrioti Levice, QRT1's Finalists as well as Winners in 2025-26. With two games to go, the Finnish side faced the other former Finalist: Bakken Bears Aarhus.
The result didn't change, with Vilpas beating the Danish team 90-72. They previously put up the same amount of points against the Slovakian side, but conceded 15 fewer points now. It was a dominant night for them.
Following a balanced first half, Jussi Savolainen's team picked up the lead (40-39) with two minutes before halftime, and never looked back. They shot a superb 58.33 percent from beyond the arc, converting 7-of-12.
One of the most fired-up shooters on Friday was Leland Walker, who put up 21 of his 33 final points, over 4-of-5 from deep, in the first two quarters. This is coming just two days after he had scored 29 in a hurry against Levice.
Karl Chavis had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.
On the losing side, that won't make it for their 4th-ever appearance in the Group Stage, Djahi Binet had 18 points off the bench, while Sylvester Pedersen added 17 points and 6 rebounds.
There has been only one representative from Finland in the BCL Regular Season since the competition started: Kataja, in Season 1. Vilpas will try to become the second one on September 20 at 17:00 CET.
BC Batumi 2010 77-93 CSM CSU Raiffeisen Oradea
To reach their first-ever BCL Group Stage in Season 11, the Finnish team must defeat another former participant in the competition's Regular Season: CSM CSU Raiffeisen Oradea, which played in 2016-17.
Going up against BC Batumi 2010, which dreamed of becoming the only Georgian team thus far to make it to the league, the Romanian side put up another dominant performance to win 93-77 in Samokov.
Following the first few positive minutes by Batumi, Oradea took control of the encounter at 2:25 in the first quarter and kept the lead until the final buzzer. At halftime, they were up by 18 points (55-37).
Four players finished by scoring in double digits for the winners, including Dan Akin, the highest scorer on the team with 16 points and 8 rebounds.
David Nichols had a double-double of 11 points and 11 assists, his second in as many games in Samokov, while Josh Jefferson flirted with it and concluded the night by providing 15 points and 9 assists.
Giorgi Ochkhikidze had another great showing for the Georgians, concluding with 22 points and 8 assists in the defeat; Larry Howell, instead, had a losing effort of 21 points and 8 rebounds.