EuroView: Ben Madgen's hot-shooting continues
Many Australians were in action across the past week in Europe, including Ben Madgen who continued his hot-shooting in Lithuania.
Ben Madgen was on fire in the Lithuanian league, helping power Lietuvos Rytas to a 69-75 win against his former side Panevezys Lietkabelis. Virtually nothing separated either side throughout the first half, however it was Lietkabelis who managed to keep their nose in front for most of the first half. Rytas dominated the third quarter, and when Madgen drained two big triples late in the third term, his side had opened up a 12 point lead.
While Lietkabelis would fight back in the last quarter, Rytas did enough to hold off the challenge to earn the 6 point win [video highlights]. Madgen would finish with 12 points on a red-hot 4-5 three-pointers with 3 assists and 2 steals in just over 19 minutes. the win moved Rytas an additional game ahead of fourth-placed Lietkabelis, and still within 1 game of second-placed Neptunas Klaipeda in the standings.
On Christmas Day, Anadolu Efes Istanbul took on Banvit and were outgunned 77-89. The out of favour Brock Motum did not take to the court in the contest, as Efes fell to the eleventh-placed Banvit and in turn slid down to ninth position in the standings.
In Croatia, Osijek could not find a way to get past Zadar, going down 72-88. After a tough first half, Osijek fought back in the third quarter to close to within 3 points. However Zadar regrouped to overrun Osijek dow the stretch, and greatly missed the scoring and physical presence of forward Venky Jois who has since had his contract bought out by Japanese club after averaging an impressive 17.6 points with 9.4 rebounds in his short stay.
Rhys Carter added 6 points on 3-3 shooting with 4 assists as Uppsala accounted for Nassjo 99-78 in the Swedish League. A 26-12 third period set up the win for Uppsala who were able to then cruise to victory against the cellar dwelling Nassjo.
Across in Spain, Dan Trist chipped in 9 points on 4-10 shooting with 8 rebounds as Ourense lost to Barcelona 76-81 in a close one. Ourense almost found a way to overhaul a 21 point deficit with a third quarter blitz, but ultimately ran out of steam. Ourense remain entrenched at the bottom of the table with just 1 win for the season.
Last-placed Baunach were thrashed 60-85 by ninth ranked Romerstrom Trier in the German second division. Baunach committed 23 turnovers and gave up 17 offensive rebounds in losing by 25. William McDowell-White played just 9 minutes for 5 points, 1 assists and 5 turnovers.