FIBA Basketball Champions League Tuesday recap
Round 3 of the FIBA Basketball Champions League got underway on Tuesday with nine contests around the continent. Tenerife and Monaco continued to flex their muscles with dominated road wins to stay unbeaten at the top of their respective groups.
Elsewhere, there was the usual display of high octane action with games in each of the groups held on Tuesday. For the day’s summary, look no further:
Group A
Bakken Bears welcomed high flying AS Monaco to Denmark, but could not live with the French team. Monaco run out 57-94 on the road to continue its hot start to the FIBA Basketball Champions League. Victory maintains the club’s unbeaten record and extends it to 3-0 at the top of Group A.
Group B
Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir downed Maccabi Rishon Media 84-75 at home, a win that handed the Turkish team second place in the standings with a 2-1 record. DeJuan Summers set the tone in the victory, scoring 19 points and claiming 7 rebounds for Karsiyaka. Maccabi Rishon’s first loss also puts the Israeli club on 2-1.
CSM CSU Oradea outfought Avtodor Saratov at home in the other Group B contest, the hosts claimed a 96-88 win to collect its first win and hand Saratov its first defeat. Sean Barnette paced the winners with 27 points and 8 rebounds, while Branko Mirkovic scored 21 points for Oradea.
Group C
Greek club PAOK travelled to Varese and collected a 70-75 away win. It was PAOK’s second victory to move them to 2-1, while home team Varese dropped to 1-2. The visitors trailed 55-52 through three quarters, but plundered 23 points to stun the hosts in the fourth act.
Group D
Strasbourg took out Oostende by 10 points with a 74-64 win on its home floor in France. It was a recovery effort for the club as it now has its first ever FIBA Basketball Champions League win on the board. A shocking 6 points in Q3 put the hosts down 25-42 through the long break. However, Strasbourg exploded in the third frame with a 34 points period that completely changed the game.
The tightest game of the day saw Avellino narrowly defeat Cibona by a single point on the road, the final scoreboard reading 83-84. The game was close through halftime, with Cibona leading 39-37. Avellino responded with 47 second half points, and while the hosts tried to keep pace they ultimately fell short. Adonis Thomas set the tone with 22 points and 7 rebounds for the victors.
All the other Group D teams are still playing catch up to Spanish club Tenerife. One of the competition favorites, Tenerife showed its class again with 71-93 destruction of Juventus Utena on the road. The win keeps Tenerife unbeaten at the top of the standings. The guests were rarely troubled in this contest, and led 77-48 through thirty minutes. To say the fourth act was a stroll would be an understatement.
Group E
Besiktas travelled to the Greek capital and dealt with AEK Athens for a 78-88 win inside the Olympic Indoor Hall. The Turkish guests looked to Earl Clarke to pace the win with 24 points and 8 caroms. Besiktas pulled away in the fourth quarter by scoring 24 points and stopping AEK at 17 points.
Partizan Belgrade bounced back from its first ABA League defeat on the weekend by beating Stelmet Zielona Gora 58-56 in the Serbian capital. This low scoring encounter went to the wire, with the score 41-45 to Gora after three quarters. The hosts recovered from a terrible 6 point haul in the third frame to steal the contest late on.