Nes Ziona fell to Arged BMSLAM STAL 93-86 to end the FIBA Europe Cup group stage with 2-1 record good enough to advance to the Round of 16 as a seeded team. The Polish squad finished they group stage at 3-0 and in first place with the victory over Brad Greenberg’s team who fell behind 51-34 after the first half thanks to hot shooting and couldn’t make up the ground over the final 20 minutes.

Photo Credit: FIBA

Patrick Miller, Braian Angola and Lior Carreira all had 14 points whole Tal Dunne scored 11 points and Wayne Selden put in 10 points in the defeat. George Earl Kell lead Arged with 17 points and James Florence added 16 points in the win.

Brad Greenberg – Photo Credit: FIBA

3-Pointers
Punched The Ticket

After Nes Ziona cliched a place in the Round of 16, it was clear that Brad Greenberg didn’t want to run his troops ragged especially after playing two very tough games after having been off for a couple of weeks due to the lockdown. Substitutes Amit Ebo, Uriel Trocki and Or Cornelius all received playing time which was the correct thing to do with Israeli league games coming up this week with a date on Wednesday night at Hapoel Holon. Greenberg was able to get Angola back on after a tough first two games and that was also critical for the upcoming clashes. “We made a lot of progress as a team this week in the FIBA EuropeCup,” explained Greenberg. “Being together like this for a week was good from a team building standpoint, so it’ll be good for us down the road.” Team captain Tal Dunne who averaged 13.7 points, 5 rebounds and 5.3 assists over the there games, also expressed his thoughts on the tourney that was, “From our perspective it’s disappointing not to finish first, but we did our job and got the ticket to the next round. We’re looking forward to the Israeli league now. [Regarding the participation of the club in this year’s bubble] It was an extraordinary experience. It was very fun – a little weird at times, being in a closed hotel for an entire week – but it was a great bonding experience for us as a team and a club. FIBA and Wloclawek were amazing hosts.” Bottom line, a job well done.

Patrick Miller – Photo Credit: FIBA

MVP

The star of the show over the course of this competition was Patrick Miller who was cool, clam and collected throughout the three games. The guard scored 15.3 points, grabbed 4 boards and dished out 4.7 assists but was also a force driving fearlessly towards the basket and being a true on court leader for the team. Miller is the only foreign player left that began the season with the club and he showed exactly why Greenberg wanted to keep him around. He’s an absolute stud on both ends of the floor and was the engine for the team that also saw great performances from Jerome Meyinsse and Wayne Selden as well.

Lior Carreira – Photo Credit: FIBA Europe Cup

Trust In Carreira

A good word also has to been said about Lior Carreira, a player that Greenberg has loved from the first minute he arrived on the scene. Carreira took the bull by the horns and played superb basketball and showed an extremely high IQ level throughout the three games where he averaged 13 points and 3.7 rebounds where at times he was playing a bit out of his normal position due Nimrod Levi being injured. There was a reason why Greenberg loves Carreira and trusts him and now we all know why.