SAMOKOV (Bulgaria) - Entering the competition for the first time ever? Making noise with offensive showdowns? Returning to the highest stage to forget last season's mistakes?
The four teams that qualified for the Semi-Finals of the Basketball Champions League Qualification Round Tournament 3 hope to answer all those questions very soon.
Reminder: The winner of QRT3 will join ALBA BERLIN (GER), ERA Nymburk (CZE) and Sabah BC (AZE) in Group B of the Regular Season.
Falco Szombathely 79-83 FC Porto
FC Porto have never played in the BCL since the competition's birth. On Saturday, midway through the third quarter, it looked like their qualifying path was about to end.
The Portuguese team were trailing by 19 points (61-42), with six-time BCL participants Falco Szombathely in full control. Then, the blue-and-white miracle happened: Porto are still alive, and progressed to the Semi-Finals.
Despite leading for only 2:40 minutes in the game, they still flew over the Hungarian powerhouse, led by Javian Davis (25 points and 6 rebounds) and Jhonathan Dunn (20 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists).
Falco had a terrible afternoon from beyond the arc, shooting 2-of-26. Jubrile Belo (15 points, 12 rebounds) and the iconic team's captain, Zoltan Perl (14 points), won't be playing with Falco in the BCL in Season X.
Fribourg Olympic 80-107 Elan Chalon
To keep dreaming about making their jump to the BCL Regular Season, Porto will need to take down Elan Chalon. However, it won't be an easy task, having witnessed their convincing 27-point win over Fribourg Olympic.
The Swiss side started the game hot, going up by even 11 points (14-3) at 6:00 on the clock in the first. From then on, a completely different scenario emerged, with the French team quickly taking control.
As expected, Jeremiah Hill was the leader on the floor for Chalon, as he concluded with 18 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds; off the bench, the Canadian guard Nate Darling had a 25-point outburst in just 20 minutes of work.
Fribourg won't continue their trajectory in the Qualification Round Tournament 3, with Da'Sean Nelson flirting with a double-double of 11 points and 9 rebounds. Natan Jurkovitz had a 15-point losing effort.
Karhu Basket Kauhajoki 89-103 BC Juventus Utena
A Finnish side against a Lithuanian team? It wasn't a long time ago that we experienced a similar showdown in Tampere, as Finland and Lithuania went up against each other at FIBA EuroBasket 2025.
This time, it was clubs going head-to-head, and BC Juventus Utena prevailed over Karhu Basket Kauhajoki 103-89 to continue their adventure in the BCL Qualification Round Tournament 3.
Six players finished in double-digits for the Lithuanians, with Devon Daniels (22 points) and Evaldas Saulys (19 points and 5 rebounds) propelling Kestutis Kemzura's team in the Quarter-Finals.
Ike Nweke gave his all close to the rim to finish with a losing effort of 23 points and 6 rebounds. Karhu, however, conceded too many points (21) off their 16 turnovers.
UCAM Murcia CB 100-84 PGE Start Lublin
Last but not least, Sito Alonso's UCAM Murcia started the season the right way, booking a spot in the Semi-Finals against Juventus with a solid 100-84 victory over PGE Start Lublin.
Devontae Cacok led with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-9 from the field while Michael Forrest, another newcomer, contributed with 13 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. Toni Nakic and Emmanuel Cate combined for 29 points.
Tevin Mack (26 points on 5-of-8 from deep), Jordan Wright (13 points and 9 rebounds), and Bryan Griffin (13 points and 13 rebounds) all had good showings, but Lublin won't continue in Samokov.
The two Semi-Finals from the Qualification Round Tournament 2 and two Quarter-Final matchups in the Qualification Round Tournament 1 will take place on Sunday.