AEK is queen in Sardinia with an epic reversal from -19!

Mythical twist in Sardinia for the “Queen”!



THE AEK Betsson BC may have found himself on the… ropes early in the third period, ousa back on the scoreboard with 19 points, however, with a sustained counterattack and their forwards McRae and Tillman“Union” turned the match upside down, achieving an incredible turnaround with a score of 83-79 over Dinamo Sassari for the 2nd matchday of the Basketball Champions League!

By Langston Hall… pinned to the bench from the beginning of the match due to a problem, the Kuzminskas to go “off” with an injury in the middle of the third period and the team to do as a whole 26 mistakes (!)Joan Plata’s team was able to cope with all the difficulties and contingencies and get the second pink card of the tournament!

Pivotal in the finale was Chason Randle (18p.) who with four three-pointers in the last period, led AEK to the upset. They were also excellent tonight Jordan McRae (22p., 8/8d.) and Justin Tillman (20p., 10/13d. 7r.), with the last two keeping the Greek team upright when the match had… gone awry.

The match:

THE AEK Betsson BC started with Flionis, Randle, McLemore, Kouseloglou and Tillman in its starting five, showing good writing samples in the first two minutes of the game (5-4). However, the sequel was not comparable, since the “Union” was unnerved and lazy in the defense part, something that was exploited to the fullest by Dynamo Sassari. In front of them Vasilis Charalambopoulos and Diop, the Italians “hit” the slow comebacks of the “yellow and black”, raising the difference at +11 (22-11) in the 7th minute with a three-pointer by the Greek forward for his eighth point.

In fact, a little later, a nail by Diop sent the difference to +15 (29-14), with Kuzminskas and McRae somehow “combining” things for “Union”, closing the first quarter at -13 and 33-20.

In the second quarter, the “yellow and black” came in with a desire to press on defense and to run the field, wanting to increase the pace and performance. They partially succeeded, since defensively they kept low the Italians with just 13 points in the period and just 3/16 from the field.

However, whatever good was “building” at the back of the pitch by Joan Plata’s players, the they “knocked down” in the attackthere where with cheap and repeated mistakes – 16 at halftime mainly from Randle, Flioni and Tillman – they could not reduce beyond 5 points (35-30 at 15′). In the final three minutes, Sasari hit two 3-pointers with Tairi and Whittaker closing out the half at +14 for 46-32.

Thanks to a quick 5-0 by hand Charalambopoulos and MatchDinamo Sasari took the lead for the first time at +19 (51-32) at the beginning of the third period. Despite the shock, her reaction AEK Betsson BCwas immediate, with the Plathas players running back with a 9-0 run of their own to 51-41 at 23′!

It was obvious that the “yellow and black” had found a rhythm in the attack in this part of the match, with Justin Tillman in the foreground and him Jordan McRae to follow in scoring, they gradually “gnawed away” at the difference, dropping it to single digits. In fact, with an individual score of 11-2 in the last three minutes, AEK made the big comeback, closing the quarter at -3 for 61-58. The only “black” point in the season, Kuzminskas’ injury withdrawal in the middle of the quarter.

THE last period held plenty of thrills, with AEK Betsson BC smiling in the final, pulling off a huge upset. And while the home team maintained a difference of 4 points until in the 38th minute (77-73), the “Union” showed soul and character on the floor and thanks to Tilman’s two-pointer at 1:34′ before the final, but also the two huge 3-pointers by Chason Randle in the final minute, AEK overturned the match (79-81) in 38 seconds, “cleaning” the pink match sheet at the end from the shooting line for final 83-79!

The quarters: 33-20, 46-32, 61-58, 79-83.

Watch the match live here.

See here the statistics of the match.