52 bench points help power Lenovo Tenerife to 3-0 start
Lenovo Tenerife have now extended their win streak in the Basketball Champions League to four games after their latest win came at the expense of Rytas Vilnius 89-75 behind 52 points from the bench.
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA (Spain) - Lenovo Tenerife have now extended their win streak in the Basketball Champions League to four games after their latest win came at the expense of Rytas Vilnius 89-75 behind 52 points from the bench.
Turning point: Rytas held a 41-38 lead at halftime, but Tenerife had a big third quarter and outscored Rytas 22-9 to go up 60-50 heading to the fourth quarter.
Tenerife extended their lead to as many as 14 points in the final quarter, but Rytas fought back and cut their deficit to five points with around two minutes left.
A couple turnovers by Rytas down the stretch hurt their chances of a possible comeback and led to Tenerife winning by 14 points, their largest margin of the game.
Game hero: Kyle Wiltjer had his highest scoring game of the BCL season with 25 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists on efficient shooting, going 10-of-14 from the field and 9-of-11 from two-point.
😱 As if @CB1939Canarias wasn't scary enough before, @kwiltj might just be the missing piece... 🧩
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) February 8, 2022
25 PTS, 10/14 FG vs Rytas Vilnius.#BasketballCL #RoadToBilbao pic.twitter.com/E7Ov9kn2NN
Stats don't lie: 52 of Tenerife's 89 total points came from the bench, as Wiltjer (25 points), Sasu Salin (14 points) and Fran Guerra (10 points) combined for 49 of those points.
Tenerife is the first team to score more than 50 points by their bench unit in multiple games in the BCL in 2021-22, after they did it earlier this season against Banco di Sardegna Sassari on October 13.
Both teams had 17 turnovers, but Tenerife took better advantage of those opportunities and outscored Rytas 26-16 in points from turnovers.
Rytas only dished out 8 assists, which is tied for the fewest in the BCL this season with Falco Szombathely, who did it in their game tonight, as well as Lavrio Megabolt, who did it against Nutribullet Treviso last month on January 12.
Bottom line: Tenerife are clicking on all cylinders currently and are now 3-0 in the Round of 16 Group L. The Spanish club will host Falco Szombathely in their next game on March 9 at 19:30 CET.
They sit in first place in Group L halfway through Round of 16 play.
Rytas are now 1-2 in the Round of 16 group and the Lithuanian club will travel to face SIG Strasbourg next on March 8 at 20:00 CET.
They currently sit in third place in Group L.
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