BCL Final held in Badalona Arena

European club basketball landed in Badalona for a final that looked finished — until it very much wasn’t. Rytas Vilnius beat AEK BC 92-86 in overtime on Saturday, May 9, at the Palau Municipal d'Esports and won its first Basketball Champions League title. The big swing was brutal. AEK led by 20 in the third quarter, then watched the game slip into the first overtime in BCL Final Four history. Rytas turned a hosting showcase for Badalona into one of the wildest finals the competition has had. ### What actually happened in the final? AEK had control for a long stretch and led 55-35 midway through the third quarter. Then Rytas flipped the whole thing. The Lithuanian side won the fourth quarter 35-17, forced overtime, and closed the extra period 12-6 to finish the comeback. Final score — 92-86. (championsleague.basketball) ### Who swung the game? Simonas Lukosius was the headline guy. He scored 23 points and hit the shot that dragged Rytas level late, which is why he ended up as the Final Four MVP. Jerrick Harding mattered too — he had been the team’s scoring engine through the event, and Rytas needed that backcourt shot creation once the game turned frantic. Mundo Deportivo’s live coverage captured the mood pretty well — Lukosius went from hot shooter to full-on closer in a few possessions. (championsleague.basketball) ### Why does the 20-point comeback matter? Because this was not just a close final. It was a record kind of reversal. Rytas became the first team to erase a double-digit deficit in a BCL championship game, and the first champion to win the title game in overtime at a Final Four. Basically, the final produced two pieces of competition history at once. (mundodeportivo.com) ### Why was Badalona hosting it? The BCL picked Badalona in January to stage the 2026 Final Four from May 7 to May 9. That put the semifinals and final in one of Spain’s most basketball-heavy cities, inside Joventut’s arena, the Palau Municipal d'Esports. It also meant a neutral-site finish in a country that already lives and breathes the sport, which helps when you want turnout, atmosphere, and TV pictures that don’t feel flat. (championsleague.basketball) ### Did the arena actually feel full? Pretty much, yes. The final drew 10,372 fans, which gave the game a real event feel instead of a corporate-final vibe. And the crowd mix was notable — reporting before the weekend suggested Rytas would bring the biggest traveling support, even more than AEK and the Spanish clubs in the field. So the noise in Badalona was not just local curiosity. A lot of it was imported belief. (championsleague.basketball) ### Why is this a big deal for Rytas? Because it puts the club somewhere new in modern European competition. This was Rytas’s first BCL crown, and the first by a Lithuanian club in the tournament. For a country with deep basketball status, that sounds almost overdue — but that’s what makes it land. Rytas didn’t just win a game. It broke a national duck in this specific competition. (championsleague.basketball) ### What does it mean for AEK? It’s the painful version of a great run. AEK beat Unicaja in the semifinal to get there, built a huge lead in the final, and still left with silver. That’s the catch with single-weekend formats — two brilliant days can turn on one shooting burst, one late three, one overtime stretch where your legs go and the other team’s confidence spikes. (championsleague.basketball) ### Bottom line? Badalona got its big European basketball weekend. But the lasting image is Rytas, not the venue — a 20-point hole, a game-tying bomb, overtime, and the club’s first BCL title. That’s the version people will remember. (championsleague.basketball) (championsleague.basketball)