BC Triumph Lyubertsy rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and then worked extra time to pull out an 84-79 overtime win over Artland Dragons on Wednesday. With the victory, Triumph takes sole possession of the first place in Group C, while Artland stay at the bottom at 0-2. The hosts trailed 50-60, but regained the lead with an 11-0 run. Artland managed to force an extra session after Demond Mallet’s last-second layup, but Triumph scored the first 10 points in overtime to secure the victory. Tywain McKee led the victors with 22 points and 10 rebounds, Sergey Karasev scored 15, Artem Kuzyakin finished with 14 and Tasamin Mitchell had 13. Mallet and Petar Popovic each scored 19 for Artland and Bryce Talor had 18 in defeat.

After Mckee's free throws opened the scoring for the hosts, Taylor sunk a triple and Anthony King hit a jumper to put Artland up 2-5. However, Triumph answered with a 17-4 run that featured a three-pointer from Yuval Naimy, a couple of baskets by Kyle Landry as well as 6-of-9 free throw shooting from four different players. Popovic and King cut the deficit before Mitchell made it 21-13 at the end of the first quarter. McKee and Artem Kuzyakin quickly pushed the lead to 25-14 at the start of the second quarter to put the hosts in control. While Popovic was the visitors’ lone scorer in the opening seven minutes of the quarter, Kuzyakin and Mitchell combined to put Triumph up 34-19. However, Artland answered with a 2-13 run that included a triple from Mallet as well as 6 points from Taylor, and Mallet’s jumper made it 38-34 heading into the halftime break.

Naimy hit a triple to start the third quarter, but it was the visitors that made a big run. Mallet and King answered with jumpers and Johannes Strasser hit a three-pointer to get within 43-41. Then Taylor strung together 7 points, including a jumper and a triple, to give Artland a 45-48 advantage. After a couple more free throws from Taylor and a layup from Popovic, Artland held a 47-54 lead after three quarters. Mitchell cut the deficit with a layup on the opening possession of the fourth quarter before Popovic and Dennis Horner made it a 10-point game, 50-60. But Kuzyakin ignited a 18-5 run, sinking a triple and a layup in a process of scoring 9 points, and Triumph went on to score 11 unanswered points and set up a wild finish to regulation. Karasev hit a triple and a pair of free throws for Triumph to grab 68-65 lead. Mallet answered with a triple and the game was decided in the final 30 seconds after McKee’s put-back gave the hosts a 2-point lead, Mallet scored a layup with 2 seconds to go to tie the game at 72-72 and send it into overtime. In extra-time, it was all Triumph. The hosts did not allow a single point in the opening four minutes while scoring 10 themselves. McKee scored 6 points in that run, including a layup-plus-foul that Karasev followed up with a jumper for insurmountable advantage, 82-72.