7 Oct 2025
    10 May 2026

    The Queen sends a message; Joventut, Gran Canaria dominant on debut

    Review
    Frank Bartley, AEK pick up a winning start in Riga

    The evening batch of games saw a defensive masterclass by the 2018 champions, and a pair of wins for Spanish newcomers.

    MIES (Switzerland) - The first Tuesday of action in the 2025-26 Basketball Champions League Regular Season, powered by Ameresco SUNEL is only for the history books now, but what a way to conclude the night.

    Ricky Rubio returned to Badalona and debuted in the BCL with a victory over Chalon, the Queen had a promising trip to Latvia, while Gran Canaria shouted to the whole competition that they are here to win.

    Joventut Badalona 91-73 Cholet Basket

    The dream is reality: Ricky Rubio came back to Badalona, and Joventut enjoyed a first win in outcome in the Basketball Champions League. What a debut it was for the black-and-green side!

    While the majestic point guard had 5 points and 5 assists in 15:12 minutes on the court, it was a whole team effort to take down Cholet Basket 91-73 in front of their fans.

    Four players finished in double-digits: Ante Tomic (14 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists), Cameron Hunt (14 points, 9-of-9 FT), Sam Dekker (13 points and 7 rebounds), and Ludvig Hakanson (12 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists).

    "We made an excellent effort. From the beginning, it was super important for us to lead the physicality that we expected. We played very well in the first half," Dani Miret began about his team.

    "In the second half, in basketball terms, we slowed down a bit, but we kept on taking care of the ball. [...] I think we had a team victory with a lot of players doing important things for us."

    It was a tough night for Cholet, which was never really in contention; they conceded 19 points off turnovers, and lost control of the possession 15 times. Gerald Ayayi had a 14-point losing effort.

    SL Benfica 61-98 Dreamland Gran Canaria

    Do we have an early contender for the BCL Final Four? Yes, it's very early to come out with such predictions, but how could you describe this debut by Dreamland Gran Canaria, completely dominant in Portugal?

    Jaka Lakovic must be a happy man, as his team not only led from the beginning to the end and had every player appearing with a scoring contribution on the stat sheet, but also came out with the 98-61 win over SL Benfica.

    Gran Canaria's dominant win over SL Benfica in five images
    Gran Canaria's dominant win over SL Benfica in five images
    Gran Canaria's dominant win over SL Benfica in five images
    Gran Canaria's dominant win over SL Benfica in five images
    Gran Canaria's dominant win over SL Benfica in five images

    It was a no-contest, with Ziga Samar dishing out 10 of the team's total 26 assists and Gran Canaria outscoring the hosts 44-24 from the paint, 24-14 off turnovers: Benfica had 19 of them.

    We warned you about Isaiah Wong (16 points), and he demonstrated from day one why he should be one to watch this season. Braian Angola also added 12 points and 4 rebounds.

    Starting Group H with a rough defeat, there can only be improvements for Benfica. Koby McEwen stepped up for a losing effort of 17 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.

    VEF Riga 53-69 AEK BC

    The Queen started from where they ended last year, convincing from the tip-off in Latvia, being up for 38:17 minutes of playing time to eventually beat VEF Riga 69-53 on the road.

    Dragan Sakota's team out-assisted the opponents 18-8. Moreover, they were way better from the charity stripe, shooting 84.0 percent at the line while Riga finished with a poor 11-of-20 (55.0%).

    Returning to the same arena where he won bronze with Greece at the FIBA EuroBasket 2025, Dimitrios Katsivelis had 13 points (including a transition clutch three) and 6 rebounds.

    "I would say we are not satisfied with how we played in the second half offensively, but the games are coming one after another, and we should have some more people in the rotation," Sakota said.

    RaiQuan Gray added 6 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds for AEK BC.

    Despite not converting one single three-pointer out of four attempts, Zahir Porter had his first good showing in black-and-white: he ended with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in the loss.

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