He paid for the bad first quarter, but showed that AEK can!

Defeat me 64-55 met in Israel and its headquarters Hapoel Jerusalem the AEKin the first quarterfinal between them for the Basketball Champions League.

The Union paid for their poor start to the game, trailing by 22 points (28-6) early in the second quarter, but then improved on both ends of the floor, getting back in contention for the win.

In the end, the hosts showed a clear mind in the final minutes of the match and managed to make it 1-0 in the series, taking a lead in qualifying for the Final 4.

Thus, AEK will look for a tie in the second game, which is scheduled for Holy Wednesday (12/4), while in case a third match is needed, it will be held in Israel, on Easter Wednesday (19/4).

The match

The match started with AEK showing a good defensive image as they took a 6-5 lead through Mitchell, however they then stalled both defensively and offensively, allowing the home side to build a lead, rousing their crowd. Hapoel ran an incredible 21-0 run with three-pointers as their weapon, while AEK made continuous mistakes and did not score a basket for 6 minutes. Thus, the first period ended with the Israelis leading 26-6.

The difference reached 22 points at the start of the second period with a well-placed shot by Cornelius, but from that point on AEK improved its defense and responded. Elias Kanzouris’ team made an 11-0 run with consecutive three-pointers by Papadakis, Miles and Williams, reducing to 28-17, while Yankovic with two shots after a long time reduced the difference to single digits (32-23), while the hosts they went into the locker room leading 36-24.

The third period started with the “hot” Williams scoring with a three-pointer, reaching 9 personal points and reducing the score to 36-27 for AEK, while Flionis with five consecutive points of his own made it 39-34! Brown’s three-pointer put the hosts back up +8 (46-38) in the 27th minute, but Williams continued his… violin, reducing it to 46-41 again.

More in a while…