Gravelines Survive Thriller

Dwight Buycks has assured BCM Gravelines of a place at the EuroChallenge Final Four

Heartbreak was experienced in Kataja on Thursday evening when home side Joensuun Kataja's European season came to a dramatic end following a 100-96 double-overtime loss to BCM Gravelines.

Following a convincing 29-point win in the first game of their EuroChallenge quarter-final play-off series, the Frenchmen were forced to work much harder in game 2.

Game 1 absentee Jermaine Flowers was, as predicted by all, immediately influential on his return, providing an assist on Joensuun's first points of the night, before following it up with a dunk as it became evident that Gravelines were not going to have everything go their way for a second time this week.

Flowers finished with a team-high 21 points.

The lead ebbed and flowed throughout the first quarter, setting the tone for the remainder of the night with neither team allowed any breathing space.

By the time Dwight Buycks brought up his 24th point of the game to force overtime with scores tied at 83, the lead had changed hands 21 times whilst scores had been deadlocked on 14 occasions.

Buycks was the hero for Gravelines, ending with 30 points, six assists and five points.

In the first overtime it was the home team making the first break, going up by four on a Flowers' jump shot. But when Buycks made a pair of free throws with half a minute remaining, Gravelines were back up by two, 91-89 and Petri Virtanen was forced to sink a pair of his own on the other basket to force a double-overtime.

Virtanen was one of five players in double figures for the home team, scoring 15 points.

However, only one team could prevail and in the end it was the visitors with Kennedy Winston making five of his seven points on the night in the second overtime, including a vital pair from the charity stripe with five seconds to play.