Kastritis: “Hard way for Aris to lose”

He was obviously disappointed Yannis Kastritis after defeat of Aris against Cluj (59-61) at Nick Galis Hall for the Eurocup.

“It’s cruel the way this defeat came. The players gave 100% in a game that lacked quality as the defenses dominated. This is also the characteristic of both groups. I know this moment is difficult and I think it won’t be fair if we just settle for the last possession. We should probably look at what we didn’t do in the earlier minutes of the match. We have to hold our heads up and carry on“, initially said the coach of the home team.

“We like to say that either the luckiest wins or whoever won would be fair. There were moments during the match when we could have managed some situations better in attack. Even towards the end of the race where we could have taken a bigger lead. I won’t use excuses but what I’m saying doesn’t mean the guys didn’t try. We had against us a team with four or five guys on the perimeter who try to strangle the opposition. We also had to manage the absence of Vassilis as operator and this was not easy for the children to play in different roles. All this together led to the poor offensive result».

Asked to comment on Marcus Carr’s poor performance he covered his player. “It’s not fair when someone doesn’t compete well to judge them and point fingers. Marcus is tough and he’s here. There is no worry or concern for Marcus».

Cluj’s coach, Michael Silvasanhe said: “Congratulations to my team and Aris. Two teams that gave everything. My players fought and they deserve well. Especially in attack it was a bad game for us and also for Aris. The team that played the best defense in the second half also got the victory”, initially stated the coach of the Romanians and added that we made a great effort and that is the reason we got the victory. We knew it would be a mentally challenging game. Mars has a huge history and people. We wanted to be properly prepared but we didn’t enter the match well. But in the end I’m happy, it was a difficult win and many teams will struggle in this stadium».