To say Yarone Arbel likes basketball would be an understatement of epic proportions.  He eats, sleeps and breathes it and gives his EuroChallenge impressions every week in Good News, Bad News.

French side SAOS Hyeres Toulon once again displayed probably the most effective trio in the competition in another unstoppable night. Rostov were on fire from long distance, just as much as Johannes Srasser of Telekom Baskets Bonn and AEL's Quincy Taylor.

On the less pleasant side of the week KK Zagreb choked in Istanbul once the overtime kicked off, while Ventspils couldn't find a single soul to reach double-digit in a terrible home defeat.

Quincy Taylor had another big night for Proteas EKA AEL.

Never Ending Trio

In the EuroChallenge Qualifying Round SAOS Hyeres hosted CSU Asesoft Ploiesti of Romania and smashed them 103-77 with three of their foreigner players - Darrell Tucker, Austin Nichols and Dontaya Draper - combining for 85 points. This week, against a little bit more intimidating opponent - Ural Great Perm of Russia, the trio stepped up again. Just like before the rotation was very short, this time almost as short as possible. Four players played the entire 40 minutes, and two others shared the left-over minutes. This time, in a 94-83 win, the same trio combined for no less than 76 points, which is a little over 80% of the entire team's output. Only this time they were more accurate from the field at 60% and had a perfect night from the line with 15 made shots in 15 attempts. Nicholas stood tall with 28 points and 10 out of 14 from the field, Draper added 26 with nine assists and seven boards on 66% from the field while Tucker settled for 22 points, four rebounds and four assists on nine out of 14 shooting from the field.

Odin, Dva, Tri Rostov

The team on a steam in the opening week was, hands down, Lokomotiv Rostov. They scored 99 points in their 27 point win over BC Sumykhimprom, but that is only half the story. The Russians enjoyed a huge night from long range, where they connected 17 times at a 54.8% clip. It was not only more shots than they managed from inside the arc (15) but also better accuracy (46.9%). The gang of Coach Daniel Yusup scored as a whole but also individually better from long range. Among the nine players who put points on the board only one, 20-year-old big guy Maxim Krivosheev, didn't score from long range. Actually all of the other eight players scored at least the same amount of shots behind the arc than inside it. On top of all was Fred House who had 30 points on 5-10 from two-point range and 6-7 when he stepped outside the arc.

Long-Range Strasser

If Rostov had the hot hand of the week as a team, than Johannes Strasser is so far the most intriguing three-point shooter in the competition. The 189cm guard of Telekom Baskets Bonn finished his team's 78-55 win over Keravnos with 15 points and five assists by connecting all of his five attempts from long range. Actually, with the two games against Panellinios in the qualifying round, Strasser now stands on a total of eight three-pointers out of 12 attempts, while managing no baskets from close range out of four attempts.

Taylor Keeps Making!

Mentioned before, but a small liner to keep you focused. AEL's Quincy Taylor is rocking the EuroChallenge so far. In his team's big 102-76 home win over Siauliai he scored 27 points while connecting on 70% of his two-point shots and a perfect four hits with no misses from three-point land. He added two rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks.

The Bad News

Choke time

KK Zagreb deserves a lot of good words for reaching overtime in Istanbul against the Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray Cafe Crown. They even earned that without the presence of one of the best point guards in the competition - Jakov Vladovic. But once marching into the extra period they were as inactive as the missing Vladovic. The locals opened with a 13-0 run, and only after more than three minutes inside the added time did Zagreb manage to find the net with a too late three pointer, their only field goal in those five minutes. For the Turks it was enough to grab an 87-72 win.

Anti Double-Digit

BK Ventspils opened their EuroChallenge campaign at home against Belgacom Liege, and lost 73-54. Nothing worked out for the Latvians who shot 37.1% inside the arc and 23.3% outside of it. Not a single player found his rhythm that night. Their top scorer was Ronalds Zakis who reached eight points, and even that took 11 field goal attempts.