SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA (Spain) - Wednesday opened with a hard-fought clash in Athens, as AEK BC prevailed over Asisa Joventut only in the last few minutes of Game 3.
Moving to San Cristóbal de La Laguna, things were completely different, as La Laguna Tenerife got their 32nd straight non-Regular Season home games in the BCL to eliminate Galatasaray MCT Technic.
Their 99-59 dominant victory against the Turkish team was not only a statement, but one of the greatest wins in the Quarter-Finals of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL.
Turning Point
As simple as it gets, there was no turning point in the Canary Islands on Wednesday night.
Galatasaray had their last lead at 7:36 in the first quarter, and then Tenerife's takeover occurred. From then on, they not only never lost control of the encounter, but also increased the gap all the way to 40 points.
Player of the Game
One of the main faces of Tenerife's legendary run in the past few seasons in the BCL is definitely Giorgi Shermadini. And if Txus Vidorreta's team had such a dominant win, he had a dominant performance.
It was a vintage night for the Georgian veteran, who had a stunning double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds, shooting 5-of-6 from the field and 10-of-10 at the line. In only 18:52 minutes of action.
Shermadini became the first player to get 20+ points and 10+ rebounds in less than 20 minutes of playing time.
Stats don't lie
As mentioned previously, it was complete domination by the Spanish side over Gianmarco Pozzecco's team, but two statistical figures stood out.
Txus Vidoretta's team shared the ball perfectly as they usually do, out-assisting the opponents 21-11. Moreover, they shot from the three-point range way better (14-of-30, 46.67%) than the opponents (5-of-21, 23.81%).
Bottom line
Tenerife were so good on Wednesday night that they didn't need superstar performances from Marcelinho Huertas (7 points and 7 assists) and Patty Mills (8 points over 2-of-7 FG), who both didn't take the spotlight.
They will now face Rytas Vilnius in the Semi-Finals of Season X in Badalona.
On the other side, Galatasaray couldn't make it to back-to-back Final Four appearances, and will have to get back on track next season, fueled by this 40-point loss.
Bugrahan Tuncer had a 14-point losing effort over 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.
They said
"I think we did a great job on our offense and defense for 40 minutes. This is the only reason to take this difference in the score. Our reads of the game were top. The plan was really good and the players executed the plan perfectly." - La Laguna Tenerife head coach Txus Vidorreta
"They played well, they were well prepared, they came ready and we shot very poorly from the field. Any time you play a team with that caliber you’re not going to win shooting 32% from the field. Regardless of what we did defensively, we had to be better offensively and we weren’t tonight." - Errick McCollum, Galatasaray MCT Technic