Porto, Karhu stay undefeated in Second Round to kickstart 2023 action

MUNICH (Germany) – The Second Round action in the 2022-23 FIBA Europe Cup season continued on Tuesday as Gameday 3 saw two teams stay undefeated and two teams pick up their first wins.

Karhu Basket opened the first game of 2023 with a solid road win against Hapoel B-Cure Laser Haifa in an unbeaten clash - winning 66-59. The Finnish side started off 7-of-9 from three-point range, with Kuany Kuany making all four of his attempts in the first half on the way to a game-high 22 points. 

Although they never led in the game, the visitors put the pressure on throughout the second half as both teams struggled to score. Anthony Hickey carried the offense for Haifa, scoring 20 points and dishing 5 assists as they now drop to 2-1 in Group J. 

Maintaining the night's theme, FC Porto rode hot three-point shooting to a home win over Cholet Basket 99-78. Max Landis led his team in scoring; putting up 29 points on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.

That win puts Porto at 3-0 at the top of Group I, while Cholet are now at 2-1 after suffering their first loss of the Second Round.

The biggest win of the night came in the other encounter in the group as Niners Chemnitz defeated SCMU Craiova 93-62. Arnas Velicka was the leader for the German hosts with 18 points to go with 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Craiova got a good effort in the loss from Topias Palmi, who scored 19 on just 11 field goal attempts. 

BC Kalev/Cramo faded late after a big fourth quarter run as they fell to an 86-72 loss against Heroes Den Bosch. The Dutch team went cold at the start of final period, giving up a double-digit run to their Estonian rivals, but held on to secure their first success in Group K. 

Kobe Webster, Austin Price and Chris Ebou-Ndouw combined to shoot 14-of-19 from three-point range with Webster dropping 34 points, whilst making 7 shots from long distance.

The Second Round action continues on Wednesday with four more games taking place.

FIBA