Canadians In Europe: February 2nd - 5th

It was a sparse week of action in Europe but with both Euroleague and EuroCup competitions nearing more serious territory, every game was going to count. The following four teams would be counting on their Canadian players to step up and help them collect more wins which, with less chances to get, are becoming more and more important.

Euroleague

Compatriots Dyshawn Pierre and Kevin Pangos met up in Istanbul when Zenit St Petersburg travelled to Turkey to take on Fenerbahce. The teams could not be separated after ten minutes but in the second quarter Fenerbahce’s three-point scoring saw them start to pull away, only for Zenit to do the same in the third, which saw the gap go down to one at the third quarter buzzer.

Four minutes into the final period Zenit took a five-point lead, but Fenerbahce sank the final dagger: a 13-0 run late in the game, putting the final result beyond doubt. Pangos finished the game with 10 points for St Petersburg, while Pierre contributed eight off the bench for Fenerbahce who, behind a game-high 24 points from Nando De Colo, secured their ninth straight win, 92-84 over their Russian rivals.

EuroCup

Melvin Ejim 16 points starting for Buducnost Podgorica, who had a much better start than their last meet-up with Virtus Bologna, but the Italian team started to pull away towards the end of the first half.

Buducnost tried to fight back late on after falling behind by 13 points, but Bolonga's superior shooting, from all spots on the floor, saw them prevail. A game-high 26 points from Milos Teodosic propelled them to the 99-89 win, making Buducnost's task of reaching the playoffs look dicier with just two games left.

The reverse of last week’s fixture between Joventut and Monaco also saw a reverse result. Four points were all that separated the teams in the first half, but in the third quarter a 14-2 run from Monaco put them up by double digits. Joventut’s 60% field shooting and making over half their three-pointer attempts were eclipsed by Monaco's 12 threes and scooping up second chance points.

Connor Morgan contributed 11 points off the bench for Joventut, but even that was outdone by 23 from Rob Gray and 21 from Jaleel O'Brien, both off the Monaco bench. Joventut were de-throned from top of Group E after being handed their first EuroCup loss since November, with a final result of 97-82.