MIES (Switzerland) - It looks like it will go down to the wire between ERA Nymburk and Galatasaray in the battle for the top spot in Group D, as both teams picked up valuable wins on Tuesday.
Galatasaray 91-74 Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola
Two weeks ago, Jordan Walker cooked up 19 straight points in the fourth quarter and nearly upset Galatasaray all by himself. This time around, the Turkish juggernauts came prepared for his late game show.
Promitheas's point guard scored 10 in a row in the final stanza on Tuesday, but Bugrahan Tuncer, Otis Livingston, James Palmer Jr, Roberts Blumbergs and Angel Delgado had the perfect response.
They put together a powerful answer as Walker pushed his team to cut the deficit to 76-73 with four minutes to play, only for a Galatasaray 15-1 run to seal the deal and for the hosts.
Galatasaray have now swept Promitheas, meaning they cannot finish lower than second in Group D anymore.
Livingston and Palmer Jr led a balanced offense with 14 points each, but Tuncer deserves a special mention for 10 points and 8 assists in less than 19 minutes off the bench. Galatasaray were a +18 team with him on the floor.
Walker finished with 22 for the Greek team, but they are down at 1-3 now.
RASTA Vechta 70-95 ERA Nymburk
In the other Group D game on the night, the Czech champions had absolutely no troubles en route to their fourth straight win of the BCL season.
Nymburk put up 32 points in the first quarter and 53 by the half, opening up a 16-point lead after 20 minutes of action. They could take their foot off the pedal down the stretch, but playcaller Francesco Tabellini has instilled an identity which is not compatible with that approach.
So Nymburk continued to push and led by as many as 28 points late in the game, sending out a clear message that this is a whole new team compared to their previous two BCL campaigns.
"Nymburk are really a top team in the BCL this season, I think surprisingly so generally speaking, but now it's no surprise any more, they are 4-0 for a reason, they play a really good brand of basketball so congrats to them and let's see how far they can take it," Vechta head coach Martin Schiller praised the opponents afterwards.
Nymburk picked up an incredible 21 offensive rebounds in Germany, JT Shumate getting four of them to go along with his 14 points.
Ondrej Sehnal was the top scorer with 16 points and 7 assists off the bench, while Christian Bishop registered another game in double digits with 15 points in 22 minutes of work.
Brandon Randolph had 12 for Vechta, but they are down in a hole at 0-4 right now.
Filou Oostende 67-55 King Szczecin
The third game of the day was a big one in Group B. Filou Oostende completed the sweep over King Szczecin, meaning they are certain of a spot in the Play-Ins at the very least, regardless of what happens in the remaining two games, as they are 2-2 with a tiebreaker over the 0-4 Szczecin.
Oostende opened up a double digit lead in the second quarter, but the Polish team went on to hit five straight three-pointers in the second half to crawl back into a one-possession game.
But there was no panic for coach Dario Gjergja and his players, with a bit of help from their fans, they managed to keep Szczecin at bay, winning the game by a comfortable 12 points in the end.
Timmy Allen continued his hot run, getting a team-high 18 points, while Chase Audige had 17 points and 7 rebounds. Davion Mintz was also in double figures with 12.
Aleksander Dziewa was by far the best player for Szczecin with 17 points.