By Stefan Djordjevic / sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
U-BT Cluj Napoca certainly proved that they deserve a spot in the Basketball Champions League Round of 16 but nobody expected it to go the way it went, with a historic comeback that not only made the club but also the competition history.
Cluj and Hapoel U-NET Holon were racing for the first spot in Group G, and the former was on the verge of missing the direct ticket to the next stage, despite everything being in their hands.
The Romanian champions found themselves down 18 points against Darussafaka which had the best performance from the bench players this season out of any team (59 points).
However, one of the ‘unlikely’ heroes stepped up for Cluj and sparked the biggest comeback seen in BCL this so far this season, leading the team to a close 103-101 win and a spot in the next phase.
Karel Guzman was the man of the match. He put up 26 points on 9-12 shooting while also adding seven rebounds, five assists, four steals, and a block. A total of 37 PIR in 30 minutes, although he initially came off the bench.
And the reason why he was ‘unlikely’ was because Guzman actually didn’t score more than eight points in BCL and, with the latest heroic performance, he outscored all five of his previous games together (23 points total).
He entered the books as only the second player to combine 25+ points, 5+ rebounds, 5+ assists in a single BCL game, after Jalen Riley who did it for VEF Riga against AEK Athens.
“It was an intense game, but these are the type of games we live for,” Guzman’s teammate Dustin Hogue said after the game. “Our team was able to rally back and fight. We were down 18 points in the fourth quarter, and it shows our heart that we were able to come back and fight, and limit them, and make them turn the ball over, it was the defense that got us back into the game.”
The defense was the key. Yes. However, their offense is what actually got the team into the BCL history books. They scored 100+ in three consecutive games (two regular time, one double-overtime) and they are the first team ever to do that.
“We just took it possession by possession and we also had a bit of luck. I’m really glad, extremely happy for my players that the outcome was like that, we qualified from the first spot to the next group stage of the Basketball Champions League,” Cluj coach Miahi Silvasan described the comeback after the game.
Cluj made history already and it’s certainly a successful season for them. But the next challenge is around the corner and they will have to forget all about the current glory if they wish to go even further.
In the newly formed Group K, one of their opponents is known. It’s Unicaja Malaga and that name is already enough to see how hard it will be for the debutants to make a sensation.
The remaining two spots will go to Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, Pinar Karsiyaka, or Promitheas and Igokea, PAOK, or Filou Oostende, depending on the results of the final two games of the regular season and the first edition of the Play-In series. Whoever gets there, the competition will be fierce without a doubt.