MIES (Switzerland) - It's been a record year for Unicaja, and it continued in the same fashion on Wednesday as the champions tied the all-time record for most consecutive wins in the Basketball Champions League.
Peristeri Domino's ended Manisa Basket's perfect run, and Nanterre 92 did likewise with FIT/One Wurzburg Basket's unbeaten start.
Aliaga Petkimspor 56-108 Unicaja
The reigning champions lost their first game of the season in all competitions over the weekend, falling to BAXI Manresa in the Spanish Liga Endesa. It seems that the defeat just fueled their motivation to get back on winning tracks again.
Unicaja held Aliaga to just four points in the second quarter, opening up a big lead and never looking back, getting a 52-point win to celebrate their 14th straight BCL win.
That ties the all-time record set by AS Monaco, the only other team to win 14 games in a row in this competition, dating from April 2017 to January 2018.
Unicaja claimed the win in typical Unicaja way, as all 12 players wrote their name on the scoresheet and nobody played fewer than 7:13 minutes or more than 23:04.
Tyler Kalinoski filled the boxscore with five 3-pointers en route to a team-high 16 points, David Kravish had 15 points in 14 minutes, Jonathan Barreiro scored 14, Melvin Ejim 12, while Kendrick Perry deserves a special mention despite scoring just 2 points, because he also had 13 assists.
Wesley Van Beck scored 11 for Aliaga, but they are now down at 2-2 after a 2-0 start.
Unicaja have a chance to set the new record for consecutive wins as they play host to Filou Oostende next, in early December.
FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets 88-96 Nanterre 92
With Zac Seljaas looking like an early MVP of the Season candidate, Wurzburg felt like they were the hot favorites to remain unbeaten as they welcomed Nanterre to town. However, the French team had other plans for their rendezvous.
Nanterre scored 26 points in the first quarter alone, and before Wurzburg had any time to adjust, the gap was above 10 points to start the second period.
Any time the hosts thought they could cut the deficit back to single digits, Nanterre came up with a big three-pointer. They knocked down 11-of-18 shots from deep, an incredible ratio compared to Wurzburg's 10-of-34 from the same distance.
Milan Barbitch had 20 points to lead Nanterre, Paul Lacombe went 4-of-4 from the field, 3-of-3 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line for 17 points, while Desi Rodriguez scored 11 for coach Philippe Da Silva, as Nanterre climb to 2-2 now.
Mike Davis Jr (21pts) and Zac Seljaas (15pts) were good for the Germans, but they drop to 3-1.
Igokea m:tel 79-86 Hapoel Netanel Holon
Also in Group A, Holon completed what could be a crucial sweep. The Israelis took the lead midway through the third quarter and would not allow the Bosnia and Herzegovina champions to fight back.
Marcus Bingham Jr had 20 points and 8 rebounds to lead the charge, Yiftah Ziv was sensational off the bench with 19 points, while Jalen Adams had 16 points and 5 assists.
Igokea got 18 points from Dragan Milosavljevic, but are now in trouble, down at the bottom of the group.
Peristeri Domino's 90-78 Manisa Basket
If you tuned into this game not knowing the standings, you would've had a hard time figuring out which team entered the game at 3-0, and which one at 0-3.
Peristeri grabbed an early double digit lead and went on to win their first game of the season, handing the Turkish newcomers their first defeat, as well.
Jarell Eddie scored a total of 33 points on eight threes with two assists in his first three BCL games of the season combined, but then went crazy in this one.
Eddie knocked down eight three-pointers en route to 27 points, with 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals, earning an efficiency rating of 29. Peristeri were a +26 team with him on the floor.
Tobin Carberry had 14 points, George Papas finished with 11, while Chris Coffey had 6 points with 10 rebounds and 3 steals.
Martynas Echodas had 17 points and 9 rebounds for Manisa in a losing effort.
FMP SoccerBet 78-83 UCAM Murcia
The Serbs were keen to prove that their 36-point defeat to Murcia in Spain was just a bad day at the office, and for three quarters, it seemed like they could actually upset the Spaniards in Belgrade.
FMP led by 14 points midway through the third, but coach Sito Alonso found the perfect response as his team put together a 20-0 run on the road and earned a fairly drama-free finish to the game, thanks in great part to an exceptional showing by Ludde Hakanson.
Hakanson had a total of 29 points across his first three BCL games this season, then went off for 28 points off the bench in Belgrade, including 12 in the final stanza.
His Swedish partner in crime, Simon Birgander, scored 21 on 9-of-10 shooting from the field, while Dylan Ennis had 11 with 7 assists.
Danilo Tasic scored a team-high 18 points for FMP.