UNICS edges Nanterre at 7Days EuroCup 92-94

The 7Days EuroCup closed out Round 3 action of the 2019-20 regular season on Wednesday. There were a few surprises and the occasional close-game, but the results did not alter the number of reported undefeated teams from Tuesday (Bologna, Partizan, Unicaja). This makes things tighter in the middle as teams, fighting to advance to the next stage, are just a game or two away from sliding into or out of the top-4 positions of their groups.

Group A

Maccabi Rishon gave AS Monaco their first notch in the loss column on Wednesday night, defeating them 77-72 at home. It was a historic moment for the Israeli club as they registered their first win in the EuroCup. Thanks to Alex Hamilton’s 22 points, eight assists, two steals and three blocks, they were able to subdue their French guests. Monaco tried their best to slow him down by sending multiple defenders at him, which resulted in fouls. Hamilton then punished them at the free-throw line as he went a perfect 10-of-10 from the stripe.

Promitheas Patras kept Ratiopharm Ulm from registering their first win of the season, thanks to a thrilling 67-70 victory on the road by the Greeks. Ulm suffered from their inability to protect the rock, committing 18 turnovers in the game. This was used by Patras to their advantage and was enough to flip things in their favor, despite the superior shooting advantage Ulm had from long range. Langston Hall was amazing for Promitheas Patras as he recorded a 16-point, 11-assist double-double to lead his team to victory.

Group B

Lokomotiv Kuban was impressive in their 86-75 win over Limoges CSP Elite. Their 36-26 rebounding advantage helped make things easier for them to control the game. Alan Williams was deftly accurate with his shot, going 5-of-7 from 2-point range and 7-for-7 from the line to end the night with a team-high 17 points for Loko.

Limoges found themselves relying heavily on the two-man game of Vincent Sanford and Semaj Christon, who scored 24 and 21 points, respectively. Their combined efforts were not enough to overcome Loko’s well-rounded teamwork.

Group C

Germani Brescia improves to 2-1 in Group C, thanks to their 78-71 win over Cedevita Olimpija. The Slovenian club falls to 0-3 early this season and needs to change things up if they want to advance to the next stage. DeAndre Lansdowne poured in nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to help seal the deal for Brescia. The team’s offense has been working well as of late and they also shot efficiently from range, making 8-of-22 shots from 3-point range.

Joventut Badalona squeezed out an 83-82 win over Darussafaka Istanbul. Klemen Prepelic was the superhero in this game has he sank the game-winning 3-pointer all the way from the other end of the court for a miraculous shot to end the game and avoid overtime. The “Hail Mary” shot got the crowd in a frenzy and it was hands-down the most exciting moment in Round 3 for sure. He leaped into the stands in celebration and the fans went bonkers.

Still a close game, but not as exciting as the one achieved by Joventut, the game between Unics Kazan grabbed a win on the road, beating out Nanterre 92-94 via an exchange of free throws. Erick McCollum and Jamar Smith scored 24 points apiece to pace Unics for the win. Isaia Cordiner paced four other Nanterre teammates to score in double figures with 17 points.

Group D

EWE Baskets Oldenburg cannot seem to catch a break in the 7Days EuroCup as they fall to 0-3 after losing to Dolomiti Energia Trento 91-81. Trento is now on a mini-roll with back-to-back wins. The game itself was a back-and-forth affair with 11 lead changes but Alessandro Gentile proved to be too much for EWE to handle. The Italian forward rose to the occasion for 19 points. Maybe after a bit more tweaking EWE will find their way onto the winning path.

Buducnost Voli Podgorica was completely shut down by the defense of Asseco Arka Gdynia and could muster 59 points to Asseco’s 62 for their third loss in as many games. Ben Emelogu went ballistic from deep, going 5-for-9 from 3-point land, including a go-ahead trey late in the fourth quarter that gave his team a 4-point lead that they kept all the way until the end