MIES (Switzerland) - Week in and week out, over eleven years, we have been used to seeing surprising results and outcomes in the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL.
Tuesday's action, however, featured one of the craziest results we could imagine, heading into this week. An upset in France, a home party crushed in Italy, and a late survival in Germany. Stay with us to find out more.
Paint it green
One takeaway from the first Tuesday of action in Season 11 was that Rytas Vilnius' performance against Sabah BC was a learning experience not to forget. Following their trip to France, they will have to get back to work.
The reigning champions' winning streak stopped at eight games, as Nanterre 92 had one of the best games ever since playing in the BCL. At home, they celebrated a triumphant 93-65 upset against the Lithuanians.
Looking at the game's lead tracker, the French side kept a slight advantage in the first half, and then escaped in the third quarter, winning it 31-15 and even reaching a 32-point lead (87-55) towards the end.
Nanterre dominated in rebounds grabbed (54-38) and assists shared (26-13). Julien Mahe's team also completely outscored Rytas 60-26 in points from the paint.
That's right, it says 60 points from the paint! Paint points used to be Rytas' forte, they had 40+ in back-to-back BCL games, but Nanterre handed them a taste of their own medicine.
Both Xavier Castaneda (15 points and 9 assists) and Hugo Yimga-Moukouri (13 points on 5-of-6 from the two-point range), one of the candidates for Best Young Player of the season, shone during the weekend in France, and confirmed themselves on Tuesday.
J'Wan Roberts joined them with a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds, 7 of which were on the offensive end.
Rytas' captain, Arturas Gudaitis, had a huge losing effort, with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The action in Group A will resume on Wednesday afternoon, as Trabzonspor play at home in back-to-back fashion, facing Sabah at 18:00 CET to stay unbeaten.
Perfect Peristeri
Ten years have passed since Itelyum Varese last played in front of their fans in the BCL, and what a way to return home in the competition. Everything happened in an eventful matchup against Peristeri Betsson.
The Italians went up by 15 points (52-37) at the end of the second quarter, but the Greeks had a huge comeback to reach their fourth win to start the season, still unbeaten in the BCL and domestic action.
An 11-0 run and back-and-forth action in the final quarter gave Peristeri the final victory at 85-82, surviving in the end.
Will Carius had 18 points for Peristeri, leading the Greeks in scoring against the Italian side, watched closely by Luis Scola from the stands of Itelyum Arena.
After scoring 33 points during the weekend in Greece, Ty Nichols had a double-double of 10 points and 10 assists for his team, and still came out clutch with a huge three-pointer off the dribble in the fourth.
Hunter Hale, who has faced the Greek side several times in the past by playing for both AEK BC and Promitheas Patras BC, led Varese in the first half and concluded with a 20-point losing effort.
UCAM Murcia will try to reach Peristeri on top of Group D as the Spanish team take on BMA365 Bamberg Baskets away from home on Wednesday at 19:00 CET.
ALBA reacting late in Berlin
Welcoming their fans in their first-ever game in the competition in Season X, ALBA BERLIN suffered a surprising loss to Elan Chalon. On Tuesday, it looked like Igokea m:tel could follow their steps.
The BIH representatives actually led for more minutes than the hosts, who overcame the inertia in the final stanza with a 24-12 run. Pedro Calles' team concluded the night in Berlin Arena with the 90-79 win, their second in a row.
In a game that featured 14 lead changes, the German league champions demonstrated they could count on more players deciding games on their own down the line.
Among them, Joe Wieskamp (19 points on 3-of-6 from the perimeter, 14 points and all three threes in the fourth) and Justin Bean (17 points on 3-of-6 three-pointers) were impressive from deep.
"They were physical. We knew we had to do a good job boxing them out, and I thought overall we did a good job. It was a grind-it-out type of game, and we came out on top," Wieskamp said.
The German team's offense continued to flow, as they have now scored at least 84 points in six of their last seven home games.
Igokea's upset attempt must still be applauded considering how dangerous they proved to be. Lazar Stefanovic ended the night in the German capital with a 21-point losing effort.
Group G action will continue on Wednesday with the clash between Surne Bilbao and SK Slavia Praha ERA NBK at 20:00 CET.