ANTALYA (Turkiye) – SL Benfica have been one of the feel good teams of the Basketball Champions League over the past two seasons, and they are one step away from making it three straight Regular Season appearances after defeating Rilski Sportist in the Semi-Finals of the Qualification Rounds.
It was a dramatic finish to the game, as Benfica protected an 89-88 lead in the last 14 seconds, in incredible fashion, too. Marcus Thornton was both the hero and the villain for Benfica, getting the block, but turning the ball over, then missing a pair of free-throws, only to hustle for the rebound and earn the ball back.
He was fouled once again, missed both of his free-throws again, and once again fought to get his own rebound, as time expired and Benfica advanced to the Final.
It was a heroic effort by Rilski Sportist, as they trailed by 9 points with just over a minute to play, but still turned it into a thriller.
Trey Drechsel was the man of the game for the Portuguese champs, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
SL Benfica will now face Fribourg Olympic in the Final. It looked like the Swiss champs would have an easy task, as they led for 39 minutes of their Semi-Finals matchup with the Norrkoping Dolphins.
However, Devonte Green hit a clutch three-pointer to give the Dolphins a 79-78 lead with just four seconds left to play and turn the tables.
The flip of the script did not prove enough though, as an Eric Nottage’s jumper fell short on the other end, but Natan Jurkovitz picked up the crucial offensive rebound and got the layup to set the final score at 80-79 for Fribourg with 0.3 left on the clock.
Jurkovitz had team-highs of 22 points and 7 rebounds, hitting 10-of-11 of his shots from the field in 29 minutes of action.
The Final will be played at the Gloria Sports Arena on Saturday. The winner gets the ticket to the Regular Season Group G, alongside BAXI Manresa, Bertram Derthona Basket and NINERS Chemnitz.