MIES (Switzerland) - Surviving against a fearless German opponent in the final Gameday of this season's Basketball Champions League Round of 16, another team from Italy celebrated in front of their crowd.
Bertram Derthona Basket 80-74 FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets
20 years ago, Bertram Derthona Basket were navigating through the fearsome waves of Italian basketball, playing in the fourth division. 10 years ago, they were experiencing for the first time what it meant to play post-season basketball in the Italian second division.
Less than 5 years ago, they wrote the first significant chapter of their recent success in the club's history, getting promoted to the Italian first division.
Last year, they played for the first time in an international competition, qualifying for the Basketball Champions League Regular Season.
On Wednesday, they did even better: for the first time in Derthona's history, they will participate in the BCL Quarter-Finals, joining Pallacanestro Reggiana as another team from Italy to be among the competition's best eight sides.
They did so by getting over FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets 80-74 in a must-win clash: whoever came out victorious would write their name into the next stage in the Basketball Champions League.
It was the usual collective effort, as Walter De Raffaele's team had five players finishing in double-digits.
"We are really, really, really happy for this historical result. It's something great, something amazing that has made our season really great. And I'm happy for this young club. Talking about the European side of things, the club is really young, but so ambitious. It's important that we answer this ambition with this kind of result," coach De Raffaele said.
Derthona's captain Kyle Weems roared to drag the black-and-white Lions by scoring 16 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, and dishing 6 assists.
It was a productive night for the team's centers too, with Ismael Kamagate and Paul Biligha combining for 29 points and 11 rebounds.
The usual duo composed of Jhivvan Jackson (31 points) and Zac Seljaas (18 points and 5 rebounds) wasn't enough for Wurzburg.
Derthona await the Quarter-Finals draw on Friday, March 28 at 11:30 CET knowing they won't have home court advantage in the best-of-three series.
They also know they won't face AEK Betsson BC, as teams from the same group cannot be drawn together.
Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola 56-60 AEK Betsson BC
The two Greek teams in Group I were already sure about their future in the competition.
To conclude this season's Round of 16, AEK Betsson BC played their last game at this stage with the home court advantage in their hands, while Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola got eliminated early.
It looked like the hosts could pull the upset win over the Queen. Despite suffering an early 14-point deficit, Dragan Sakota's team showed last effort and resiliency, coming back to win 60-56 in Patras.
Having gone scoreless for the vast majority of the game, former Promitheas leader Hunter Hale had a crucial three-pointer to cut the lead late.
Grant Golden (14 points and 6 rebounds) and Mindaugas Kuzminskas' perfect 6-of-6 at the line did the rest.
Without Jordan Walker, who recorded BCL history last week with 54 points against Wurzburg, the hosts had 21 points off the bench from Jordon Varnado.
AEK broke their unlucky tradition in road games, winning just their third game over the last ten encounters played as the road team in the competition.
On the other end, Promitheas have now lost eight of their last nine home games in the BCL after winning eight of their previous 10.
# | TEAM | W | L | For | AGT | +/- | POINTS |
1 | 5 | 1 | 493 | 449 | +44 | 11 | |
2 | 4 | 2 | 507 | 466 | +41 | 10 | |
3 | 2 | 4 | 496 | 516 | -20 | 8 | |
4 | 1 | 5 | 465 | 530 | -65 | 7 |