MIES (Switzerland) - While the two-time Basketball Champions League winners La Laguna Tenerife enjoyed the view from the top spot of Group D in Season X, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, the real battle was taking place in their rear-view mirrors.
Trapani Shark and Tofas Bursa went head-to-head to decide who gets the second spot, meaning the home-court advantage for the Play-Ins in January.
Tofas Bursa 99-93 Trapani Shark
The yin and the yang of this group, Tofas had started the season at 2-0, then went on to lose three in a row, while Trapani did the exact opposite, going from 0-2 to 3-2 in a hurry.
With Tofas winning the reverse fixture, they knew a potential sweep over Trapani would send them to second spot.
However, it was the Italians in the driver's seat, leading throughout the game and opening up a ten point lead with just 1:30 left to play.
That's when the sensational comeback story began for the Turkish side. A masterful 10-0 run saw them force overtime, where Hugo Besson and Alex Perez took over and clinched the all-important win.
Perez was the man of the hour, finishing just one rebound short of what would've been the fourth triple-double in BCL history. He had 22 points, 13 assists and 9 rebounds, with 5 steals also to his name, all together giving him an efficiency rating of 39.
"It was a really tough game, hats off to Trapani. They came from Italy, long trip, and they played really well," Perez said.
"They played good in transition, I think they had 18 points in transition, in the first quarter. We just kept fighting and fighting until the end. We were down 7, with a minute left and we never gave up. We showed a lot of character and I just want to say thank you to the fans and to my teammates, and thank you to the whole coaching staff for believing in us!"
Besson had 16 points, Marek Blazevic and Isaiah Whaley scored 15 each, while Maxwell Lewis added 10 off the bench.
Trapani played with just eight players, J.D. Notae's 27 points not enough for another upset on the road.
As the second seed from Group D, Tofas will face the third-placed team from Group C in the best-of-three Play-Ins in January.
Trapani will not have home-court advantage against the runners up from Group C.
Bnei Penlink Herzliya 94-86 La Laguna Tenerife
Coach Txus Vidorreta enjoyed his team's quest towards another Round of 16 berth, and knowing they would finish first no matter what, La Laguna Tenerife travelled to Czechia without Marcelinho Huertas and Bruno Fitipaldo to take on Herzliya.
Their hosts knew they would finish last in this group even if they took down the two-time champs, but still played their hearts out, trying to hand Tenerife their first back-to-back Regular Season defeats since 2016.
With Chinanu Onuaku's 22 points and 9 rebounds, they managed to keep the black-and-yellow team at bay, finishing the Group Phase at 2-4. However, it was not enough to advance.
Wesley Van Beck had his best game for Tenerife with 19 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds in 22 minutes of work.