Canadians in Europe: October 26th - 29th

How Canadian players fared in another busy week of basketball in the top continental competitions across Europe:

EuroCup

Dylan Ennis put up 20 points off the bench for Gran Canaria in a thriller against Promitheas Patras. The gap between the teams was never more than seven points and the lead was constantly going back and forth between them. The Greek team got sixteen three-pointers to drop, a record for them, Gran Canaria kept themselves in contention with thirteen threes of their own, as well as outscoring their hosts in the field.

It all came down to the last minute, when Gran Canaria created the scoring opportunities they needed and Promitheas came up short to ensure the win.

It was similarly hard going for Melvin Ejim and Cedevita Olimpija at the start of their match-up with JL Bourg-en-Bresse, but after a closely contested first half they pulled away from their French visitors from beyond the arc. The French visitors' attempts to match them from three-point territory kept falling short and in the end it was a comfortable win for Cedevita. Twelve points and six rebounds was Ejim's contribution to his team's 91-79 victory.

Andorra amassed a double digit lead in the first quarter, at which Trento kept chipping away, but greater all-around offence and the edge on defence kept the Andorrans in front from start to finish. Connor Morgan contributed five points for Andorra in their first win of the season, which finished 85-73 in their favour.

EuroCup Women

Once again Aislinn Konig and Quinn Dornstauder found themselves in another close encounter with Castors Braine, this time in London against the Lions. After a close first quarter Konig's outside shooting put Castors in front by seven points, they tried to hold on to their advantage but London took control in the fourth quarter.

Limiting their opponents chances and accurate shooting from all distances saw the Lions go from two points down to eleven in front, the final score 69-63 in their favour. It was Braine's first loss this EuroCup season but Dornstauder finished with five in both points and assists while Konig was the game's joint top scorer with sixteen points, shared with her team mate Valeriya Berezhynska in the loss.

Abigail Fogg was the leading rebounder for Fribourg with 12 total boards to go with eight points against Tenerife. Her club got back to winning ways in the Canary Islands, even surviving a late scare when Tenerife made it a single-possession game, it was Fribourg's superior defence and play in the paint kept them in command and run home to victory 74-66.

Elsewhere it was a less successful story. Stars Keltern could not recover from a bad start against Zabiny Brno, the Czech hosts keeping them on the back foot after an early unbroken streak of 21 points. Alex Kiss-Rusk had eight points and rebounds - the latter the best for the team - but there was nothing the German club could to do save themselves from the heavy loss, at the final buzzer Brno were victors by thirty points.

Ruth Hamblin and Olympiacos were left floundering on their visit to Orenburg, where Nadezhda went into an early lead and kept themselves in command with plenty of low-post points. In the end it was all about damage limitation for Olympiacos, who in the final quarter reduced their arrears from 26 points to a final score of 88-70 to the Russian victors.

Basketball Champions League

Anthony Bennett played garbage time for Hapoel Jerusalem, who blew an eleven-point lead over Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski The Polish hosts surged ahead in the second half to win 76-65, a loss that proved to be the last straw for Hapoel coach Oren Amiel, who was released from the job following the loss, which leaves the team winless and now coach-less after three Champions League games.

In the battle of the two undefeated teams of Group A, Kyle Wiltjer scored 24 points in 24 minutes on the court for Tenerife, but five double-digit performances from Riesen Ludwigsburg kept the German team in front from start to finish. Even a game-high performance from the Canadian international could not save his team from a loss, Ludwigsburg top the group after defeating Tenerfie 80-69.

FIBA Europe Cup

Kenny Cherry and Phil Scrubb combined for twenty points as Avtodor Saratov built an ever-growing lead over Hapoel Gilboa Galil. The Israeli team were overwhelmed on Saratov’s home court as the hosts made over half their shots from the field and led by as many as forty-five points. At the end they remained unbeaten in Group D with an all-too easy forty-point victory.

Euroleague

Dyshawn Pierre had four points and rebounds for Fenerbahce against Olympiacos, one of his baskets being a highlight moment: receiving the pass from Jan Vesely and rising above the traffic for the two-handed dunk.

The Greek team's outside shooting saw them surge in front early on, Fenerbahce's response was to close the gap from double digits to a single possession ahead of the final quarter. The pressure mounted in the fourth, where the teams were deadlocked for much of the time. Despite the best efforts of Vesely and Achille Polonara to see out the win, Kostas Sloukas would be the hero for Olympiacos. He put up the last six of his team's points which, when a final three-pointer attempt by Marko Guduric fell short, would help Olympiacos see out the win in dramatic fashion.