By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Aris returned with a bang in the BKT EuroCup by booking a ticket to the playoffs. The Greeks got the 86-66 road win in Germany over already qualified ratiopharm Ulm and got the 5th open ticket from Group A.
Only one spot is left for grabs after this result and will be decided next week, in the last round of the regular season, however, Aris has the tie-breaker over Turk Telekom with 2-0 wins over them and has secured a spot.
Aris got a 49-40 halftime lead, started the second half with a 20-6 run (69-46), and never looked back.
Ronnie Harrell with 19 points was the top scorer of the winning side, and Vassilis Toliopoulos added 17 points.
Bourg got the 68-64 road win in Ankara over Turk Telekom in a game decided on details.
The hosts tied that score at 64, but couldn’t score after that while Bourg had 4/6 free throws to close the game.
Bodian Massa with 13 points was the leading scorer of a team effort, while Tyrone Wallace had 16 points for the losing side.
The last ticket will be decided between Turk Telekom, and the duo of Buducnost and Trento after the impressive 97-78 road win of the Montenegrin team over the Italians which created a three-way tie between the 6th and the 8th position.
Nikola Tanaskovic with 19 points led Buducnost to the big win which can end up being huge due to margin and also because Buducnost has 2-0 wins over the Italians. On the other hand, Turk Telekom has beaten Buducnost twice, while they shared 1-1 wins with Trento.
Epic win for Cluj-Napoca
On the last game of the night, U-BT Cluj-Napoca managed to get the huge 113-111 overtime road win over Gran Canaria.
Emanuel Cate with 23 points and a huge tip-in with two seconds left in overtime was the hero of the night as his team got a historic result.
Jarell Eddie with 24 points was the top scorer of the winners, Patrick Richard had also 23, and Bryce Jones added 21 as their team can aim for the second spot in the group standings.
For the defending champions, Nicolas Brussino had 30 points and Andrew Albicy had 20, but they were not enough.
In Group B, Cedevita Olimpija put on a fight but the London Lions got the 92-85 win and still hope for the second spot in the standings.
The score was tied at 79 with 2.40 seconds left on the clock but the Lions went into a 9-0 run (88-79) which practically decided the game with Matthew Morgan scoring in total 26 points.
GROUP A
Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul – Paris Basketball 72-95
Wolves Vilnius – Veolia Towers Hamburg 94-84
Umana Reyer Venice – Prometey Slobozhanske 108-92
Joventut Badalona – Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 85-91
Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana – London Lions 85-92
Standings
1. Paris Basketball 16-1*
2. Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 12-5*
3. London Lions 12-5*
4. Joventut Badalona 10-7*
5. Besiktas Emlakjet 9-8*
6. Prometey Slobozhanske 9-8*
——————————
7. Wolves Vilnius 7-10
8. Reyer Venice 7-10
9. Veolia Hamburg 2-15
10. Cedevita Olimpija 1-16
GROUP B
7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys – Slask Wroclaw 91-75
Turk Telekom Ankara – Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 64-68
ratiopharm Ulm – Aris Midea Thessaloniki 66-86
Dolomiti Energia Trento – Buducnost VOLI Podgorica 78-97
Dreamland Gran Canaria – U-BT Cluj-Napoca 111-113 (98-98)
Standings
1. JL Bourg 14-3*
2. U-BT Cluj Napoca 13-4*
3. Dreamland Gran Canaria 12-5*
4. Ratiopharm Ulm 9-7*
5. Aris Midea 8-9*
6. Turk Telekom 7-10
———————————
7. Buducnost VOLI 7-10
8. Dolomiti Trento 7-10
9. 7-bet Lietkabelis 6-11
10. Slask Wroclav 2-14
* – denotes teams that have qualified for the playoffs