MIES (Switzerland) - Glory was split between road and home teams in the last two encounters scheduled for Tuesday to begin this season's Basketball Champions League Play-Ins.
Following an early Turkish showdown by both Galatasaray and Aliaga Petkimspor, both Filou Oostende and Bertram Derthona Basket found their first successes in their best-of-three series.
Nanterre 92 78-88 Filou Oostende
The last two times Nanterre 92 and Filou Oostende crossed paths in the Basketball Champions League, the home side prevailed. Tradition's over, as Dario Gjergja's team managed to escape from France with an 88-78 win.
Oostende won this game twice, first in the first half and then once Nanterre's 16-0 run in the second half was silenced with another comeback by the Belgians. From 7:13 in the third quarter, they never lost control.
Chase Audige has been a solid solution for Oostende throughout the BCL Regular Season, but he entered the Play-Ins at 25.6 percent beyond the arc; tonight, he caught fire for 21 points (4-of-7 from deep) and 9 assists. Overall, the guests shot way better from three (46.43%) than the hosts (22.22%).
Desi Rodiguez, who has now scored more than 10 points in each of his last 13 games in the BCL, was Nanterre's leading man. He finished with 19 points in a losing effort.
Game 2 of the Play-Ins between Nanterre and Oostende will be played next Tuesday, January 14, at 20:00 CET, this time on Belgian red-and-yellow soil. If Nanterre also win away from home, these two teams' fate will be decided back again in the green-and-white Palais des Sports Maurice Thorez a week later.
A spot in Group L of the Round of 16 is up for grabs, reaching the already-qualified ERA Nymburk and UCAM Murcia, and one of Falco-Vulcano Szombathely or Maccabi Ramat-Gan.
Bertram Derthona Basket 69-59 Peristeri Domino's
Bertram Derthona Basket fans must have feared ghosts from the past entering Game 1 of their Play-In series against Peristeri Domino's.
Eager to get revenge after last season's home defeat to Galatasaray at this point of the campaign, Walter De Raffaele's players found themselves with backs against the wall in Pala Ferraris, down by 12 points with 3:52 left before halftime.
However, the remaining two quarters resulted in a combined 38-22 run by Derthona, which went all the way to a 69-59 win. This means they will travel to Greece with positive vibes.
"What we understood in the third quarter was that maybe on a day like this where nobody can score and we were making bad reads on offense, it was really important to play defense because as we showed, we can really play aggressive defense. This is a series and it was really important to start 1-0," coach De Raffaele said after the game.
Tommy Kuhse got us used to all-around performances, and he was everywhere with 16 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds; Leonardo Candi (3-of-3 from the field) sealed the deal with a clutch three with 1:51 left, while Tommaso Baldasso got hot with 9 points in a row and the right push in the third quarter.
On the losing side, experience wasn't the X-Factor, but CJ Harris still had 17 points on 10-of-10 shooting from the line. The next big thing for Greek basketball Neoklis Avdalas had 9 points, 5 dimes and 4 boards.
The winner of this best-of-three series will face AEK Betsson BC and FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets in Group I of the Round of 16, joined by the winner of another Play-Ins clash: Karsiyaka against Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola.
Last season's Final Four participants from Greece need to bounce back on January 14 at 18:30 CET to avoid elimination. If the yellow-and-blue team tie at 1-1, the series will come back to Northern Italy.