MIES (Switzerland) - If Tuesday already delivered some spectacular matchups in Week 1 of this season's Basketball Champions League Play-Ins, Wednesday exceeded everybody's expectations.
Manisa Basket and Pallacanestro Reggiana stole the show with outstanding comebacks dragged by their respective backcourts; Karsiyaka fought until the end but had to surrender to Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola, while Falco-Vulcano Szombathely had a winning debut in this stage.
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Manisa Basket 87-86 NINERS Chemnitz
Two Turkish teams opened Tuesday with respective wins to start the 2024-25 Basketball Champions League Play-Ins? Make it three on Wednesday, as Manisa Basket shocked everybody at home.
NINERS Chemnitz were ready to come back to Germany with a huge road victory, leading by 13 points (86-73) with 2:10 minutes left on the clock. Then, Kazys Maksvytis's team forged a comeback for the ages.
Saben Lee (20 points and 5 assists), Fabian White Jr (24 points and 5 rebounds), and Hugo Besson (27 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists) took care of business, inspiring a full court press, a number of steals, dunks, a couple of clutch shots to set up everything for the final possession.
Jeff Garrett was double-teamed in his own half, and a sloppy pass was stolen by Besson. The French guard remained calm when he got the ball back in the corner and knocked down the game-winning triple.
"It feels good. We finished crazy strong, we showed big character. That was like a Play-Off game and I think we showed that even when we were bad, you can count on us to play until the end," Besson said.
"At the end of the game, of course, we were in a bad situation, but this is the game of basketball. You need to play 40 minutes and I'm happy that our team showed character to fight until the end. We won the game by 1 point, which means we deserve this win," coach Maksvytis was impressed with his men.
Up until that final chaotic sequence, Garrett displayed a great performance with 20 points and 5 rebounds. Aher Uguak (19 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists) and William Christmas (14 points and 9 rebounds) were also effective.
"I thought we played a pretty dang good game for 39 minutes and put ourselves in a position to win and then just under a little bit of extra pressure down the stretch. They made more plays than we did, we turned the ball over too much and they got good players and sometimes the game goes like that," Christmas offered.
Following Manisa's significant home win, the series will now move to Germany on January 14 at 20:00 CET. If Manisa can't go 2-0, Game 3 will be played back again in Muradiye Sports Hall.
Whoever wins this Play-In series will play in Group J of the Round of 16, reaching Unicaja, Rytas Vilnius, and the winner of the best-of-three clash between Galatasaray and Saint-Quentin. At the moment, the former are up 1-0.
Karsiyaka 77-81 Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola
After Galatasaray and Aliaga Petkimspor opened the stage on Tuesday, and Manisa joined the Turkish party on Wednesday, there could have actually been a fourth Turkish side winning Game 1 of the Play-Ins.
Karsiyaka had a roller coaster clash against Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola, as the two teams exchanged leads eight times on Wednesday night. The guests went up by 16 points (36-20) midway through the second quarter but lost the lead entering the third.
Then, once Ufuk Sarica's team looked favorite to win the game despite losing five pillars like Errick McCollum, Damien Jefferson, Jerry Boutsiele, James Webb III, and Kenan Sipahi during the break, the Greeks had an 8-0 run in the final two minutes to pick up a gigantic road win.
Promitheas got the job done with a collective effort: six players ended in double-digits, with Isaiah Reese leading his team in scoring with 13 points.
Daron Russell saw his usage and volume of shots increase a lot without McCollum at his side. Therefore, his percentages dropped to 4-of-17 from the field, but he went still close to a double-double at 15 points and 8 assists.
Thomas Akyazili (18 points and 4 rebounds) and Ergi Tirpanci (11 points and 8 rebounds) were Karsiyaka's surprises tonight. They respectively entered the Play-Ins with 1.0 and 0.5 points scored per game.
After the game, coach Ufuk Sarica also announced this was his last game at the helm of the club.
"I regretfully would like to state that I'm stepping down from my role as the head coach as of today, which I've had for the past five years with a huge honour, due to the conditions our club finds itself in, after mutual agreement with the management," the 2021 BCL Finalist said.
With another win on Game 2, scheduled on January 15 at 18:30 CET in Greece, Promitheas would advance to Group I of this season's Sweet 16, joining FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets, AEK Betsson BC, and the winner of the series between Bertram Derthona Basket and Peristeri Domino's.
If, on the other note, Karsiyaka manage to win Game 2, the series will come back to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Karsiyaka Spor Salonu for Game 3.
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely 88-81 Maccabi Ramat-Gan
This is Falco-Vulcano Szombathely's sixth season playing in the BCL, but they never participated previously in the Play-Ins. Debuting with a victory is always good news, and they did exactly that.
Following Maccabi Ramat-Gan's better start to the encounter in Hungary, the black-and-yellow heroes for the home crowd created a gap and never really looked back, leading from the 6:42 mark in the second all the way until the final buzzer.
Matt Tiby had by far the best performance of his BCL campaign with 21 points and 8 rebounds.
The team's captain Zoltan Perl was only two points away from 15, which would have given him the longest 15+ point scoring sequence of any player in league history. He did become the 12th player with 800+ points in the history of the competition.
Amin Stevens and Kendale McCullum (10 assists) each had 24 points in their losing efforts. The former has now made 10+ two-pointers in four games this season in the BCL, while nobody has done it more than once.
With two consecutive victories in their first-ever BCL Play-Ins, the Hungarians would join UCAM Murcia, ERA Nymburk, and the winner of Nanterre 92 vs Filou Oostende in Group L of the Round of 16.
If the result of Game 2 will see Maccabi Ramat-Gan bounce back, the series will come back to Szombathely's Savaria Arena for the do-or-die Game 3.
Telekom Baskets Bonn 91-94 Pallacanestro Reggiana
Wednesday night in Week 1 of the 2024-25 BCL Play-Ins was all about comebacks. The latest encounter on the schedule between hosts Telekom Baskets Bonn and guests Pallacanestro Reggiana was no exception.
Roel Moors's team was better than the opponents for two full quarters (second and third). However, the Italian side both started and finished with the upper hand, ultimately winning 94-91 on the road to grab Game 1.
The 38-19 run in the fourth quarter was crucial to go ahead in the best-of-three series, erasing what was a 16-point deficit after 30 minutes of action.
"Lack of consistency hurts. They have more experience, but that's not secret and should not be an excuse. They used that well. We were not good enough in ISO defense and I think that changed the momentum and gave them the game," coach Moors offered after the defeat.
Jaylen Barford had one of those nights for the Italians, scoring 34 points over a perfect 7-of-7 from beyond the arc - yes, you read that right. He tied the all-time mark for most threes without a miss in the BCL, as Sek Henry also went 7-of-7 for Karsiyaka at the Final 8 in 2021.
Barford's backcourt teammate Cassius Winston had the go-ahead layup bucket with 17 seconds remaining, collecting 21 points and 5 assists for the game. The winning two-pointer was drawn by assistant coach Federico Fuca, who took over the playcalling following Dimitris Priftis's ejection.
NBA veteran Kenneth Faried sealed the deal at the line, and closed with 13 points and 9 rebounds.
On Bonn's side, Phlandrous Fleming Jr. had the perfect night from two (8-of-8) and ended with 23 points plus 6 rebounds in the loss. Darius McGhee finished with 19 points but shot only 2-of-12 from deep.
The winner of this Play-In series will end up playing in Group K of the Round of 16, joining the two-time BCL champions La Laguna Tenerife, 2021-22 BCL finalist BAXI Manresa, and the winner of the matchup between Aliaga Petkimspor and Hapoel Netanel Holon.
Game 2 is scheduled to take place in Reggio Emilia's PalaBigi on January 15 at 20:00 CET. If Reggiana wins in front of the red-and-white fans, they will advance. Otherwise, the 2022-23 BCL champions will play the decisive Game 3 at home.