Canadians in Europe: October 11th - 14th

Basketball season is well underway in Europe, where it was a packed week for Canadian players. Each of the continent's major international competitions saw Canadian players play a role for each of their respective teams, some the leading scorers and others in nail-biters.

FIBA Champions League & Europe Cup

Aaron Doornakemp and Kyle Witjer both started for Tenerife, but only contributed seven points between them against Dinamo Sassari. Their team mates were there to pick up the slack and Tenerfie roared into the lead after outscoring the Italian team 23-6 in the second quarter. They continued their scoring streak throughout the second half and the the final buzzers were the winners by 27 points.

Anthony Bennett scored just five points and grabbed seven rebounds for Hapoel Jerusalem, who saw a game-high 24 from Jalen Adams off the bench, but that wasn't enough to lift them over Manresa. The Spanish team's three-point shooting gave them the edge over Hapoel, who were handed their second straight loss, this time by a margin of 73 points to 68.

Seeing more success on offence was Philip Scrubb in the Europe Cup, one of five Avtodor Saratov players who scored in double digits against Zaragoza with sixteen to his name. It was their high-scoring five who helped the team to recover after falling behind after a close start, Saratov went on to out-score Zaragoza 60-33 in the second half and capture the win 100 points to 80.

EuroCup Women

Ruth Hamblin was getting it done on both ends for Olympiacos, scoring sixteen and falling a rebound short of a double-double against Bydgoszcz. The Greeks showed their opponents no mercy, beginning the game with sixteen unanswered points, going on to a comfortable win 103 points to 68.

The Canadian duo of Aislinn Konig and Quinn Dornstauder shone for Castors Braine in a back-and-forth road game against Zabiny Brno. Konig scored a team-high 16 points and dished eight assists, with Dornstauder contributing 14 points and nine total boards off the bench for the Belgian team, whose early lead was overturned by the Czech hosts. A heated third quarter followed, after which Castors outlasted Brno in the final period, going from behind by two to prevailing 75 points to 58.

Alex Kiss-Rusk started and scored 14 points for the Keltern Stars as they hosted EuroCup debutants London Lions, a hard-fought contest from start to end. Kiss-Rusk was one of many Keltern players picking up points in the paint early on, which put them up by nine in the first half, only for London to close the gap from three-point territory.

The German team did all they could from close range to hold on to their lead, but the Lions were tenacious and hard to shake off. Down the final stretch, they tied the scores twice before a three from Johannah Leedham gave London a late lead and Kennedy Leonard added two more while Keltern's attempts to save the game fell short. In the end, the win was London's.

In a similarly close game, Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe scored a single basket for ASVEL Lyon, who went into the fourth quarter of their clash with Estudiantes leading by eighteen, only for the Spanish club to close the gap from beyond the arc and make up the difference with a minute to go. Estudiantes' Laura Queveado tied the scores and added two more to take her to a game-high 28. Marine Johannes tried to save the game for Lyon with a three, but it fell short and Estudiantes were victorious.

Over in Switzerland, Abigail Fogg had 22 points for Fribourg, second on the team behind only Marielle Giroud with 31, in a dominant performance against Dinamo Sassari. The Italians saw a double-double of 28 points and 14 boards by Jessica Shepard, and the team shot 50% from the field, but they were completely outplayed by their hosts. Finishing the first quarter leading by twenty points, Fribourg did not look back and went on to lead for the entirety of the game, finishing with the win 100 points to 81.

Euroleague

It was a mixed week for Dyshawn Pierre and Fenerbache, who played twice in the Euroleague. First Fenerbahce saw a nine-point half time lead over Alba Berlin disintegrate in the second half,

where Oscar de Silva and Maodo Lo led the German team in taking control of the game and outscoring Fenerbahce by 22. Pierre finished with nine points in his team's 84-70 loss, then contributed five in Fenerbahce's routing of UNICS Kazan.

The Turkish team dominated from close range while the Russians kept falling short throughout four quarters. Holding them to single digits in two of four quarters, Fenerbahce avenged their earlier loss in style, beating Kazan 80 points to 41.