MIES (Switzerland) - AEK Betsson BC, Telekom Baskets Bonn and Bertram Derthona Basket avoided upsets at home in close games, while Rytas Vilnius picked up an overtime road win. La Laguna Tenerife were the only ones on cruise control on Wednesday.
Falco-Vulcano Szombathely 72-82 Rytas Vilnius
The champions of Hungary had a capacity crowd behind them, trying to defeat Rytas Vilnius and stay in the hunt for the top spot in Group F. In a game full of ups and downs, both teams ended up wishing they had sealed the deal before overtime.
That's because the Lithuanian champions had a 5-point lead and a fast-break late in the fourth, only to watch Zoltan Perl lead another comeback by the hosts.
It was Perl who had the ball in his hands on Falco's final possession, but his lefty runner did not fall as time expired, meaning we were headed to overtime at 68-all.
It was a one-way street in the extra five minutes, thanks to RJ Cole taking over. His five quick points opened up the gap needed for Rytas to run away and claim that 3-1 record, with a tiebreaker over Falco-Vulcano Szombathely, as well.
Cole finished with 13 points, while Steven Enoch had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Gytis Radzevicius also picked up a double-double with 16 and 10, while Savion Flagg ended with 13 points to his name.
Perl had another game with 20+ off the bench for Szombathely, finishing with 22 points. They had a 12-point lead late in the third quarter, but Rytas did not panic.
"We understood that in our away games we cannot play fancy, we just need to play together and as simply as possible. We stopped playing iso, we started to move the ball and changed something defensively which helped us get some big stops and win the game," coach Giedrius Zibenas explained afterwards.
AEK Betsson BC 80-70 VEF Riga
There was another comeback from 12 points down on Wednesday, this time by AEK in front of their fans. VEF Riga stormed to a double digit lead in the first quarter, but coach Dragan Sakota used all of his experience to guide the yellow team towards a win through team effort.
He used all 12 players on the night, and 10 of them contributed in scoring, just enough to keep VEF at bay any time they thought they could complicate things in the second half.
CJ Bryce had 15 points, Mindaugas Kuzminskas finished with 14, while Nahiem Alleyne had 11 - all three of them came off the bench. The only starter in double figures was Hunter Hale, also with 11.
Issuf Sanon was once again Riga's best player, but his 19 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists were in a losing effort.
Telekom Baskets Bonn 80-76 Maccabi Ramat-Gan
In line with the script of the day, of an underdog that claims a double-digit lead on the road, Maccabi built a 10-point lead in Germany, but the 2023 champions knew it's a long game.
Bonn took the lead for the first time midway through the third quarter, and even though the Israelis refused to go away, Bonn found different solutions to keep them a step or two behind the rest of the way.
The crucial moves happened on post ups. Angelo Allegri backed his defender deep under the rim to get the righty finish for the lead, and Till Pape dropped Drew Crafword a possession later to make it 78-74, just enough for a calm finish to the game for the magenta team.
Darius McGhee and Phlandrous Fleming Jr had 14 points each, Thomas Kennedy collected 13 with 9 boards, while Pape finished with 12 and Allegri with 10.
Amin Stevens had 30 for Maccabi, but their 7-of-34 shooting from beyond the arc was not enough to pull off an upset on the road.
Bertram Derthona Basket 77-71 SL Benfica
Another game that followed the same narrative played out in Italy. Benfica were winless heading into this one, while Derthona were perfect, and yet, it was the Portuguese champs who were better for 27 minutes of the game.
That's how long they were up on their hosts, and looked to steal a huge win on the road with a 68-65 lead as they entered the final five minutes.
It only made the Italians angrier, with Arturs Strautins fueling a perfectly timed 11-0 Derthona run, enough to take the lead and avoid any kind of drama in the closing minutes.
Strautins had 18 points, Christian Vital scored 14 with 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists, while Tommy Kuhse counted to 11.
Trey Drechsel led Benfica with 14, as they had four men with 10 or more points, playing their best game of the season so far. To no avail, they are down in an 0-4 hole right now.
La Laguna Tenerife 96-57 Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball
The only blowout game of the day was the one in the Canary Islands. It felt like David Kramer could do no wrong on the day, as the German shooter played the best game of his BCL career.
Kramer knocked down 8-of-11 three-pointers, scored 27 points in 28 minutes, with 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block, giving him an efficiency rating of 30. The entire SQBB team shot just 6-of-23 from three-point range.
All 12 players scored for coach Txus Vidorreta, as Tenerife shot 16-of-28 from deep, and dished out 24 assists on 30 field goals. No visiting player was in double digits, Dominik Olejniczak was the closest one with 9 points and 7 rebounds.
Tenerife are still unbeaten in this group, while Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball still have a chance of catching Karsiyaka in the second spot. They will have to win both of their remaining games, including a win by 11 or more over Karsiyaka.