Canadians in Europe: March 9th - 12th

The second round of the EuroCup came to an end, the three teams with Canadian players would then be finding out what will happen next for them in the competition. At the same time teams in the Champions League continue their push in the playoff stage and the Euroleague regular season nears its conclusion in a packed week of European basketball.

EuroCup

After trailing Nanterre for much of the first half, Joventut then did exactly what they needed to do: take control of the game. Plenty of points from long range gave them a double-digit lead at the end of three quarters. Solid play in the paint from Nanterre put a scare in Joventut down the stretch, but five in a row from Pau Ribas buoyed the Spanish club to a 95-88 victory, in which Connor Morgan had eight points off the bench.

Five points was all that separated Buducnost Podgorica and Cedevita Olimpija for three quarters, but after starting the final period with a 9-2 run, the Montenegrin team found themselves leading by eight. Kendrick Perry tried to close the gap for Cedevita down the stretch, but picking up points from inside and out, Nikola Ivanovic gave Buducnost a late lead their opponents could not come back from.

Melvin Ejim was the game’s top scorer with 20 points as part of Buducnost’s 79-66 win, which earned the team that has seen turmoil this EuroCup campaign a place in the playoffs.

Thomas Scrubb put up foruteen points off the bench for JL Bourg-en-Bresse, who fell behind early on to Virtus Bologna and, despite their best efforts from the field, could not catch up. Higher-percentage basketball and tougher defence from the Italian team saw them dominate the game from beginning to end, leading by as much as 22 points and closing out winners 83 points to 62.

Bourg-en-Bresse have put in a great effort and done so well to go so far in their first European competition, but without a win in Group G, their run in the EuroCup is finally at an end.

Joventut and Buducnost have both qualified for the quarter-finals, where they will respectively be playing Bologna and AS Monaco. The other playoffs will see an all-Russian match-up between UNICS Kazan and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, as well as one of the teams of the tournament, Boulonge Metropolitans facing a test by seasoned Spanish side, Gran Canaria.

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FIBA Champions League

Picking up the points in all the same places, there was little to separate Zaragoza and Baskets Bamberg – a three from Rodrigo San Miguel midway in the second quarter being the difference maker in the first half. In the second half, Zaragoza took advantage of a lapse in offence from Bamberg to create a comfortable lead for themselves to the final buzzer.

Dylan Ennis scored 15 points in another impressive win for Zaragoza, in which Tryggvi Hilnasson's defensive display saw him finish with three blocks, part of him facilitating the team's 77-65 win over Bamberg.

Ankara only briefly held the lead over AEK Athens in the first half, before letting the game get away from them in the third, where the Greek club went in front by double digits. A late push from Ankara proved to be fruitless, as AEK had them overpowered on offence. Finishing with 14 points, Kyle Wiltjer shared team top scoring honours with Nick Johnson, but it would be small consolation in a heavy loss for the Turkish team.

Canarias Tenerife fell behind early on but in the second quarter Burgos caught fire from the three-point line, giving themselves a sixteen-point lead. Tenerife responded with a 15-0 run, tying the scores, before Burgos responded in kind, finishing off the half with an all-around scoring show which saw them head to the locker rooms ahead by nine.

They weren’t done there, either: After thirteen points without reply, Burgos went on to lead by twenty-six points, leaving Tenerife floundering and unable to come up with a plan of attack. Even a game-high 21 points from Sasu Salin could not rescue them, nor could Aaron Doornakemp’s contribution of six to the score line. With five players reaching double-digits, Burgos completed their route of their compatriot team with a final score of 101-79.

Euroleague

Dyshawn Pierre had nine points off the bench in a low-scoring show for Fenerbahce on their visit to Valencia. Led by Sam Van Rossom, Valencia put on a commanding performance early on and dominated in the final quarter, not letting go of their double-digit lead en route to finishing 66-52. Fenerbahce remain in the playoff spot despite this lackluster showing, but with so little time left in the regular season can't afford to come up short again.

Kevin Pangos once again was the lead scorer with 20 points for Zenit St Petersburg, who finished the first quarter leading Olympiacos by thirteen. The Greek club’s talisman Vassilis Spanoulis combined with Sasha Vezenkov to close the gap with their three-point shooting. Olympiacos began the fourth quarter down two to go on to win 75-61, a finish that came easy to them after Zenit self-destructed, scoring just five points in the fourth quarter.