Niners Chemnitz win first leg of the European Cup final

The Niners Chemnitz have taken a first step towards winning the FIBA Europe Cup title. On Wednesday, the German basketball club won the first leg of the European Cup against Bahcesehir College at home by 85:74 (50:36). The second leg will take place in Turkey next Wednesday. The results of the two games will be added together to determine the winner.

Jeff Garrett helped Chemnitz get off to the better start with two buckets from beyond the arc and the home side was 29:18 ahead after the first quarter thanks to its accuracy from outside and strong rebounding. The club from Saxony stretched its lead to 17 points at times, but then went more than four minutes without scoring from the floor. However, they pulled 50:36 back in front at the break thanks to good finishing near the basket.

After half-time, Chemnitz lost its rhythm in offense and the visitors reduced the gap to seven points at times. The German Basketball League club tightened up in defense in the final period and built a comfortable lead again. Deandre Lansdowne stood out from a cohesive team performance for Chemnitz with 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

The Chemnitz team would be the sixth German team to win a European Cup after Alba Berlin (1993), the Syntainics MBC from Weißenfels (2004), BG Göttingen (2010), the Fraport Skyliners from Frankfurt (2016) and Telekom Baskets Bonn (2023). The FIBA Europe Cup is currently the weakest of the four European basketball competitions.