Black Lions (BLD) beat Eur. Investment Bank A (EIBA) 88-63 in grimler, breaking the game open with a dominant fourth quarter. The hosts set the tone early (21-11), stretched it to 35-22 at halftime, but EIBA answered after the break with their best spell, winning the third quarter 26-18 behind Giorgios Kontoes and Drini Manjani. Manjani's triple cut it to 51-48 before BLD steadied to 53-48 at the buzzer.
Coach Tom Schroeder's team then erupted: from 53-50 they delivered a 22-3 surge to 75-53, and closed the night on a 35-15 fourth quarter. Captain Tom Schumacher was unstoppable, scoring 17 in the last period alone and finishing with 40 points. He buried four threes in the fourth and, after Georgios Diakolilias' P3, calmly knocked down three free throws in a row. Angelo Barnellini joined the perimeter barrage with five made threes and 19 points, hitting three long-range shots in the closing minutes. Denis Wirtz added 19, including timely free throws and drives during the first-half push.
Under coach Nicolae Predescu, EIBA stayed in it through three quarters thanks to Kontoes (19) and Manjani (19), with Emanuele Santi adding 10. But the visitors could not match BLD's outside firepower late: the Lions drained 15 triples (nine by Schumacher, five by Barnellini) to EIBA's four. BLD led by as many as 25, the final margin, and used an early 8-0 run and a fourth-quarter 10-0 burst to control the game's key phases.
(AI generated)