Canadians in Europe: March 5th-8th
The knockout stages of the women's Euroleague, EuroCup and the FIBA EuroCup began, while semi-final spots were up for grabs in the EuroCup in a busy week in top-flight continental basketball, with Canadian players right in the middle of it all.
EuroLeague Women
When Bourges visited Sopron, little did either team know how evenly matched the ensuing game would be. Even when Sopron went ahead by nine, it didn’t take long for Bourges to close the gap again. Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe had 15 points and Katherine Plouffe added 12 off the bench, while Marine Johannes led all on the floor with 24 points for Bourges.
After falling behind in the fourth quarter, Bourges tied the scores with twenty seconds remaining. A jump shot from Candice Dupree put Sopron up by one in the final seconds, and Bourges’ final shot attempts fell short. Yvonne Turner had 22 for Sopron in their one-point win.
The teams met up again a few days later, this time in France. After a close start, Sopron took a seven-point lead just after the start of the second half. With ten points each Raincock-Ekunwe and Plouffe both tried to lift Bourges, but Sorpon were running rampant over their opponents, leading by double-digits down the stretch.
Tina Jovanovic and Aleksandra Crvendakic both had double-doubles for Sopron in their 74-64 win in game two.
EuroCup Women
Girona opened with eight unanswered points as they paid a visit to Lyon ASVEL, leaving the French club to play catch-up for the game’s remainder. They were aided by Michelle Plouffe who had 14 points, as well as Ingrid Tanqueray who added 15 off the bench, but the home team could not contain Girona on defence and flatlined in the fourth, letting the Spanish club go in front by 26 points
Nadia Colhado had an outstanding 17 points and 18 rebounds for Girona, as they humiliated ASVEL on their home court with an 80-57 defeat in the first of two quarter-final match-ups.
FIBA Europe Cup
Dinamo Sassari managed to re-take control of the game after losing their early 17-point lead on their visit to ZZ Leiden. The Dutch side began the fourth quarter behind by nine points, but slowly started to narrow the gap and Darius Thompson tied the scores ahead of the final minute.
Jack Cooley immediately responded with a layup on the other end, and team mate Tyrus McGee then put the result beyond doubt in the final seconds. Dyshawn Pierre contributed seven points in Sassari’s dramatic 97-93 win.
Thomas Scrubb started and posted 10 points and 8 rebounds for Pallacanestro Varese, who led Prishtina by fifteen points in the first quarter on their visit to Kosovo. Catching fire from long-range and Dardan Berisha on his way to 21 points, the home team took the lead in the third quarter, going on to lead by ten.
After cutting the deficit in half, Varese’s superior short-range skills saw them first tie the scores, then after six unanswered points, emerge victors by a score of 80-77. Dominique Archie impressed with 22 points off the bench for Varese in the win.
Euroleague
Efes Istanbul enjoyed the lead early and throughout when they hosted Barcelona this week. The Spanish club were unable to contain Efes's offence, most of all Shane Larkin, who finished with an amazing 37 points off the bench. There was nothing that Kevin Pangos could do to lift Barcelona, who were resigned to the loss 92-70, but still retain fifth place in the league table.
EuroCup
In the all-Russian clash, UNICS Kazan kept evening the scoreline after Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar broke away just before the end of the first half. Melvin Ejim had four points for the Kazan, with team mate Erick McCollum leading the visitors with 19.
The game was tied going into the deciding final quarter, but Lokomotiv then found themselves with a late ten-point lead behind an outstanding show on offence from Dmitry Kulagin, the game's top scorer with 26. With Lokomotiv finishing ahead 68-59, these teams will meet up again next week in a final fight to stay alive in the competition.
With 10 points, Kyle Wiltjer was one of four Malaga players to finish in double digits, and one of six on all the team to reach that milestone. All on the home team, though, were outclassed by Alba Berlin’s Rokas Giedraitis, who had 23 points in the contest. After a fourth quarter in which they had ran rampant, Berlin emerged as winners by a margin of 101-81, forcing a deciding game.
Aaron Doornakemp finished with four points for Valencia as they get the first semi-final spot in this year’s EuroCup after a commanding win over Rytas Vilnius at the Siemens Arena. Lifted by 19 points off the bench from Tobey Mike, Valencia took advantage of some slack shooting from the home team, who only managed 17 points in the second half, going on to close out the series and the game 71-56 over Vilnius.
