Rīgas Zeļļi Win Dramatic EuroCup Debut Against Italy's Derthona

Latvian basketball club Rīgas Zeļļi played their first-ever EuroCup match at home on Wednesday, edging out Italian Serie A side Derthona of Tortona 86:84 in a tense contest.

The game swung back and forth: the home side led by ten points after the first quarter, but the Italians pulled level before halftime, leaving just four points between the teams after twenty minutes. Rīgas Zeļļi briefly lost the lead in the third quarter, and the final period brought a dramatic sequence of lead changes.

In the closing minute both teams traded baskets to tie the score repeatedly, until 0.4 seconds before the final buzzer the team's top scorer, Ben Shungu, sank a mid-range jump shot to secure the win. Shungu finished with 23 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Other strong performers included Tyler Wall (18 points, ten rebounds), Isaac Johnson (12 points) and Martin Varna (ten points). For the Italian side, Prentiss Hubb scored 16 points, Dominik Olejniczak added 14, and Justin Gorham contributed 12.

Rīgas Zeļļi became the first Latvian club to compete in the EuroCup since 2015. Founded in 2023, the club opened its Latvian-Estonian league season with two wins over Estonian teams. In EuroCup Group A, the Riga side will also face clubs from Spain, France, Israel, Slovenia, Greece and Germany.