MIES (Switzerland) - They won the Basketball Champions League in 2018, and reached the championship game in 2020. It looks like they are ready to add 2025 as another historic year.
That's because AEK Betsson BC were the first to reach the Quarter-Finals, after just four games in the Round of 16. In the other game of the afternoon, Aliaga Petkimspor avoided elimination.
AEK Betsson BC 84-77 FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets
Last year, the Basketball Champions League Round of 16 quickly became a nightmare for AEK, as they ended winless in that stage of the competition despite starting the Regular Season with high hopes and five straight wins.
In just one year, the Queen majestically learned from her mistake, as the black-and-gold side found their winning form from the first editions of the BCL.
By getting the fourth consecutive victory in crazy fashion with the thrilling 84-77 home win over FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets, they got their Quarter-Finals ticket.
If Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola beat Bertram Derthona Basket on Wednesday night, they will even secure home-court advantage.
It was a game of two faces, as the Germans even got a 17-point lead (30-13) at the end of the first quarter, but slowly lost track of the encounter with AEK climbing up the comeback.
The hosts got their first lead of the night with less than four minutes to play in the fourth, thanks to Prentiss Hubb (11 points and 6 assists) completing a 2+1 play. Hunter Hale was AEK's leading scorer with 23 points over 15-of-18 at the charity stripe.
Hale's 15 made free throws tied the BCL record for most in a single game, previously set by Jordan Davis, D'Angelo Harrison and Anthony Cowan.
However, the man of the hour was Dimitris Flionis, coming off the bench for 10 points without a miss, with 5 rebounds and ridiculous 7 steals in just 20 minutes of work.
AEK were a +19 team with him on the floor, and his steals during the comeback seemed to add a few decibels to the sound from the packed stands in Athens.
Coach Dragan Sakota said this win meant more, as AEK were struck with medical issues and even tried postponing the game.
"I said to the players before the game that for me they are heroes just coming to play. For me the score was important, but behind that the health of the players is more important than anything else. So in the morning we didn't know how many players we would have."
In the end, Mindaugas Kuzminskas was the only DNP in the boxscore.
"When we realized how we have to play, somehow we found a return and made one of the biggest victories for our team in recent years. So congratulations for everybody, I'll be happy to see even more people at the next game. They gave us the energy today to stay until the end," coach Sakota added.
Wurzburg couldn't avoid back-to-back defeats to the Greek team that clearly showed supremacy in front of their beloved fans. Jhivvan Jackson and Zac Seljaas combined for 42 points in the loss.
Aliaga Petkimspor 89-86 BAXI Manresa
Aliaga Petkimspor entered this week with their backs on the wall: in case of another defeat against BAXI Manresa, they would have been out of contention, as they started the Round of 16 on a 0-3 stretch.
Heading to the conclusion of the first quarter, the concern would have been natural for Burak Goren's team, conscious that it was now or never. Well, it happened to be now for the hosts.
With a fantastic 33-11 period in the second quarter, even better for the Turkish team if you think they went on a 17-0 scoring run in exciting fashion, they got the final 89-86 victory by surviving a late comeback attempt by Diego Ocampo's team.
Wesley Van Beck was clutch from the free throw line (8-of-8), scoring 21 points to secure his team's victory.
"I thought we started a little bit soft in the first couple minutes of the game but our intensity picked up in the second quarter which got us that lead going into halftime. In the third quarter we wanted to come out with that intensity," he commented.
He wasn't the only protagonist on Petkimspor's side, as Damyean Dotson (20 points, 5-of-6 from three) had also a huge shooting night.
Manresa's difficulties continued on the road at this competition's stage, as they have now lost six of their eight road games in the BCL Round of 16, now allowing 85+ points in six of those games - including tonight.
This was their third consecutive defeat in this season's R16, as they are now tied with Petkimspor at 1-3. Cameron Hunt scored 11 of his final 23 points in the first six minutes of the game, but it wasn't enough.