S.L. Benfica (basketball) close to reach the Top 8, and for a third season in a row Benfica managed to reach the Top 16 again in the European Champions' Cup, in 1995–96, grabbing a win against Panathinaikos, the eventual champions. This period was followed by a dark era in which Benfica was internally overshadowed by Ovarense, Portugal Telecom and FC Porto. Even though this period is considered to be a dark one, Benfica did manage to reach the LPB final once as well as winning Super Cups and finishing runners-up in the national cup and in the league cup. Also noteworthy is an
1978–79 S.L. Benfica season handed the title to Porto, who gained a point with one match left. A week later, Benfica won, but so did Porto, who confirmed their back-to-back league title with 50 points, one more than Benfica. About the season, Mortimore said: "What a beautiful championship, with an appealing fight between Benfica and Porto. They (Porto) ended up being Champions because in the matches against us, they racked-up three points. But that was not the reason why he lost it. It was the poor results with Belenenses, Setúbal and Marítimo.". Two seasons without any honour was not seen since 1948, and two