Final Four bound! Historic night for Manchester Basketball
- marisnoviks
- 27 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Manchester Basketball erased 18 points deficit to defeat Dinamo Zagreb, 97-94, win the series, 183-178, and advance to the 2026 Final Four on Wednesday, April 1, at the Drazen Petrovic hall in the Croatian capital.
Players of the game
Wednesday delivered a proud moment for the Super League Basketball and the British club basketball as a whole.
SLB club advanced to the ENBL Final Four for a second year in a row, after Marc Steutel and the Newcastle Eagles reached the 2025 final at the Gopass arena in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Manchester Basketball punched a Final Four ticket in their European debut.
Usual suspects were running the show.
PJay Smith scored 31 points for Manchester Basketball on excellent 10/14 shooting from the field and 4/5 from the three point line.
Furman University graduate point guard went 7/11 from the three point line, tying a fourth best result in ENBL history.
PJay Smith had nine points in the fourth quarter and sank both three pointers.
Max Jones added 19 points.
University of Kansas State graduate guard shot 6/13 from the floor and 4/5 from the charity stripe.
Jordan Johnson shined with 20 points on 15/17 shooting from the free throw line.
University of New Orleans guard dished out a game high 11 assists.
Dinamo Zagreb star guard DeLonnie Hunt was held to three points.
Hrvoje Garafolic led the home team with 22 points on 8/13 shooting from the field.
Dinamo captain added five rebounds and three steals.
Imran Polutak had 14 points and seven boards.
Key stats
Dinamo Zagreb stormed out of the gates for a 18-36 lead and a 16 points advantage on aggregate, 104-120.
Manchester Basketball fought back.
The visitors went on a 29-12 run to regain a 133-132 lead in the series with 20.12 left.
Dinamo Zagreb launched two more offensives in the second half.
Their maximum lead on aggregate never exceeded six points, 158-164 (72-80), with 8.26 to go.
Manchester Basketball finished the game and the series on a 25-14 run.
Visitors back court trio – Smith, Jones and Johnson – combined for 70 points.
PJay Smith made a huge go ahead three, 90-87, with 2.17 left.
Manchester Basketball committed less turnovers, 13-17, and scored more points off turnovers, 19-15.
Game notes
Manchester Basketball improved to 9-2, while Dinamo Zagreb dropped to 6-4.
Manchester Baskeball lead the series against Dinamo Zagreb, 3-0.
The British club won the regular season game at Dinamo Zagreb, 91-88, on February 3, 2026.
Manchester Basketball also prevailed in the game one of the quarterfinal series, 86-84, on March 25, at the National Basketball Performance Centre.
Dinamo Zagreb are 3-2 on the home floor, with both losses coming at the hands of Manchester Basketball.
Manchester Basketball are 4-1 on the road.
Matthew Otten and his men have made it to the Final Four where they will face the 2025 German Cup winners SYNTAINICS MBC.
2026 quarterfinals | local time | CET
Tuesday, March 17
(8)Donar Groningen 81-100 SYNTAINICS MBC (1)
Wednesday, March 18
(7) Dziki Warszawa 89-82 Iraklis BC (2)
Wednesday, March 25
(5)Manchester Basketball 86-84 Dinamo Zagreb (4)
(1)SYNTAINICS MBC 80-73 Donar Groningen (8)
SYNTAINICS MBC win the series, 180-154
Wednesday, April 1
(2)Iraklis BC 83-84 Dziki Warszawa (7)
Dziki Warszawa win the series, 173-165
(4)Dinamo Zagreb 94-97 Manchester Basketball (5)
Manchester Basketball win the series, 183-178
Sunday, April 5
18:00 | 17:00 (11)Riga Zelli – CSO Voluntari (3)
Thursday, April 9
19:00 | 18:00 (3)CSO Voluntari – Riga Zelli (11)
April 22-23, Final Four
Location to be confirmed on April 2
2026 ENBL playoffs and bracket
Live blog: the playoffs are coming
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