By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The seventh week of the Basketball Champions League Regular Season wrapped up Round 4. Only one team is officially through to the Round of 16, Baxi Manresa from the sixth week, but the remaining 31 teams are still in the hunt to either progress directly to the next round or settle for the Play-Ins.
NutriBullet Treviso missed the chance to become the second team sealing a ticket to the next round but suffered a narrow loss to Falco Szombathely in Group D. In the Monday “Game of the Week”, AEK finally got off the mark with a win over VEF Riga.
Hereda San Pablo Burgos jumped on top of Group H moving to 3-1 and holding EWE Baskets Oldenburg to 1-3, shortly after parting ways with Zan Tabak. Also, Rytas Vilnius routing Besiktas Icrypex matched both teams at 2-2.
In Group C, JDA Dijon and Nizhny Novgorod protected home court against Unicaja Malaga and Lavrio Megabolt, respectively. The ACB outlet is still in charge but certainly in a less comfortable situation.
The second double-overtime of the season saw U-BT Cluj Napoca outlast Hapoel U-NET Holon and climb on top of the Group G table. One day earlier, Happy Casa Brindisi defeated Darussafaka.
More BCL excitement coming up as Round 5 stretching from 6 to 15 of December leads up to the Regular Season finale scheduled for 21-22 December.
A spot in the Round of 16 will be awarded to the top seed of each group, while the next two teams will continue in the Play-Ins with the remaining eight spots up for grabs.
Basketball Champions League Regular Season Week 7 schedule:
Group A
Standings
1. MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg 7 (3-1)
2. Lenovo Tenerife 7 (3-1)
3. Prometey 5 (1-3)
4. Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari 5 (1-3)
Group B
Standings
1. y-Baxi Manresa 8 (4-0)
2. Pinar Karsiyaka 6 (2-2)
3. Arged BM Stal Ostrow Wielkopolski 5 (1-3)
4. Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 5 (1-3)
Group C
JDA Dijon – Unicaja Malaga 78-68
Nizhny Novgorod – Lavrio Megabolt 74-62
Standings
1. Unicaja Malaga 7 (3-1)
2. Lavrio Megabolt 6 (2-2)
3. JDA Dijon 6 (2-2)
4. Nizhny Novgorod 5 (1-3)
Group D
AEK – VEF Riga 88-79
Falco Szombathely – NutriBullet Treviso 81-80
Standings
1. NutriBullet Treviso 7 (3-1)
2. Falco Szombathely 7 (3-1)
3. VEF Riga 5 (1-3)
4. AEK 5 (1-3)
Group E
Standings
1. Galatasaray Nef 7 (3-1)
2. PAOK mateco 6 (2-2)
3. ERA Nymburk 6 (2-2)
4. Igokea 5 (1-3)
Group F
Standings
1. Tofas Bursa 7 (3-1)
2. SIG Strasbourg 6 (2-2)
3. Filou Oostende 6 (2-2)
4. Kalev/Cramo 5 (1-3)
Group G
Happy Casa Brindisi – Darussafaka 82-73
U-BT Cluj Napoca – Hapoel U-NET Holon 106-101 D-OT (83-83, 94-94)
Standings
1. U-BT Cluj Napoca 7 (3-1)
2. Hapoel U-NET Holon 5 (2-1)
3. Happy Casa Brindisi 5 (1-3)
4. Darussafaka 4 (1-2)
Group H
Rytas Vilnius – Besiktas Icrypex 82-69
EWE Baskets Oldenburg – Hereda San Pablo Burgos 72-85
Standings
1. Hereda San Pablo Burgos 7 (3-1)
2. Rytas Vilnius 6 (2-2)
3. Besiktas Icrypex 6 (2-2)
4. EWE Baskets Oldenburg 5 (1-3)
y-clinched Round of 16 spot
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League