Canadians in Europe - November 18th-22nd
All of the Canadian-based action from a busy week of basketball across Europe:
Euroleague
It was a double header in the Euroleague this week, with every team playing two games. Baskonia and Valencia benefited, taking two straight victories. Nik Stauskas started in both games for Baskonia and scored 11 and 5 points in each respectively, while Valencia moved up to 13th place on the ladder, but Aaron Doornakemp did not contribute to their scoreline in either game.
EuroCup
Connor Morgan impressed with 14 points off the bench for Joventut, who were constantly playing catch up to Darussafaka, in the end falling short by 92 points to 86, which evened out their win record in Group C. Meanwhile, Melvin Ejim had six points for Malaga, who blew an early 12-point lead over Galatasaray. The Turkish club had a blowout third quarter, outscoring Malaga 33-8, to see out victory 91-80.
FIBA Champions League
Dinamo Sassari trailed hosts Holon by 15 points shortly after the start of the third quarter, but would not go down without a fight. Lifted by a double-double from Dyshawn Pierre, Sassari captured the lead in the last minute and saw out victory by just two points.
Strasbourg’s match-up with Liektabelis came down to the final seconds, where Paulius Valinskas put up the points that decided the outcome of the game. Thomas Scrubb had just the one basket for Strasbourg as they lost out 66-63 to Lietkabelis. Owen Klassen had six points and eight rebounds for the Antwerp Giants, whose early double-digit lead over Pau-Laq-Orthez was overturned in the fourth quarter, but the team responded with 16 points down the stretch to win out 74-69.
Aaron Best impressed with 15 points off the bench for PAOK, who trailed Zaragoza by one at the half, but powered ahead in the second half, where they led by as many as 15, and finished ahead 93-78. Kyle Wiltjer started and scored 13 points for PTT Ankara as they led their hosts, Torun, from start to finish. Dominating the offence (55% from the field and 13 three-pointers), the visitors to Poland got the big win, 95-73.
FIBA Europe Cup
Justin Edwards led all on the floor with a towering 23 points for Kormend, who were dominant over Legia Warsaw and struck the final blow in the fourth quarter, sealing the ten-point win. Elsewhere, BC Kiev doubled Levski's points in the first half, but though the Bulgarian club gave their all to fight back - including 10 points from Ryan Wright - the damage had already been done. Levski will need a final win to stay alive in competition after their 86-66 loss to Kiev.
