Canadians In Europe: October 13th - 16th
It was an eventful week in European basketball and the excitement seems to keep finding the continent's Canadian contingent. Here's how every player from Canada fared overseas this week:
Euroleague
Dyshawn Pierre had just two points for Fenerbahce in the first of their two games in as many days. Agsint CSKA Moscow, Nando De Colo’s great start for the Turkish team couldn’t continue, he was ejected after picking up two technical fouls.
Will Clyburn played the hero for CSKA, he scored 26 off the bench, among them a three-pointer saving the game for the Russians at the final buzzer. In the extra period Daniel Hackett and Jan Vesely put the game to bed for Fenrbahce, but Clybrun came to CSKA’s rescue once again, making the game-winning and-one layup and securing the one-point victory.
Pierre had a better showing days later against Bayern Munich. He scored seven points this time out, but it turned out to be the same old story for Fenerbahce. The Turkish team led by 21 points in the first quarter and saw 25 from Jan Vesely, but in the end it would all be for nothing. Bayern’s Vladimir Lucic and Jalen Reynolds played the leading roles in the most unlikely of comebacks for the German team 75-71.
EuroCup
Conor Morgan had 11 points in 16 minutes for Joventut on their visit to Bahçeşehir Istanbul, with Ante Tomic blazing the trail for the Spanish club with a game-high 21 points. Building on their 28-16 first quarter lead, they played high percentage offence and tougher defence the rest of the way. Joventut remain undefeated so far after the latest victory, 91 points to 72.
In Montenegro, Kenny Cherry scored 11 points for Brescia, one of five players to score in double digits for the visiting Italian team. Even so, they were left floundering by hosts Mornar Bar, who built an early twenty-point lead. Brescia's attempts to mount a comeback fell far short in the face of superior offence from Mornar Bar, who secured comfortable victory 95-76.
For Buducnost Podgorica, Melvin Ejim had a perfect game, making every one of his shot attempts in a thriller away at Malaga. A flurry of three-pointers have Buducnost the early advantage, which stood at 16 points in the second quarter.
Francis Alonso started fighting back from three-point territory for Malaga, he made it a one-possession game in the third, Adam Waczynski and Dario Brizulea followed up by putting Malaga ahead by six with two minutes on the clock. After two threes in quick succession from Buducnost, Yannick Nzosa put the game to bed with seconds remaining on the clock.
Kevin Pangos and Thomas Scrubb were both due to be in action for Zenit St Petersburg and JL Bourg-en-Bresse respectively, but both teams were forced to withdraw from their fixtures this week as neither team could field enough players.
