Rytas Vilnius grabs first win in FIBA Basketball Champions League

Rytas Vilnius got their first win of the Basketball Champions League season, knocking off back-to-back champions Hereda San Pablo Burgos 87-69.

Rytas had six players score in double figures with Ivan Buva (19 points), Speedy Smith (14 points off the bench), Vaidas Kariniauskas (14 points), Margiris Normantis (13 points), Arnas Butkevicius (11 points), and Gytis Radzevicius (10 points).

Tyrus McGee led Burgos with 20 points in 20 minutes off the bench on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-10 from three-point.

After scoring 27 points in Burgos’ first game, Vitor Benite only scored 6 points tonight on 2-of-9 shooting from the field.

Besiktas erases 14-point deficit and earns first win

Despite trailing by as many as 14 points, Besiktas Icrypex came back and pulled out an 83-81 win to give EWE Baskets Oldenburg their first loss of the Basketball Champions League season.

After Besiktas went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, Rickey Paulding (15 points) had a chance to win it at the buzzer for Oldenburg, but the shot rimmed out, giving Besiktas the narrow victory.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (21 points), Jordan Bone (18 points), Dedric Lawson (15 points), Trevon Blueitt (13 points), and Isaiah Whitehead (12 points) accounted for all but four of Besiktas’ points.

New arena brings no joy for AEK Athens

AEK played their first game in the new arena, but it was all about Nutribullet Treviso in Athens on Tuesday. The Italian squad climbed to 2-0 to start their first European season while sending AEK to 0-2.

Nutribullet Treviso stormed through the Qualifying Rounds, and with the Italian League and the Italian SuperCup, this was already their 14th official game of the season. The busy schedule helped Massimiliano Menetti build strong trust within the team already in October. It was that trust that got them over the line in the AEK Ano Liosia Arena (92-77).

Dijon bounces back with the help of Katic

JDA Dijon bounced back after losing to Lavrio Megabolt at the buzzer to start the season. Nizhny Novgorod opened up a 16-point lead to start the game but then witnessed Toni Katic going crazy off the bench for coach Nenad Markovic.

Katic scored 16 points with five assists and the longest shot of the season so far. With him running the point, Dijon was a +21 team, a massive +/- considering the game finished 89-75.