Out of the BCL, PAOK couldn’t stand it and bowed out in Antalya!

Despite leading by +12 in the second period, PAOK lost 69-79 to Petkimspor in the final of the BCL qualifiers held in Antalya and was left out of the groups of the top-ranked FIBA ​​Europe competition, in which case they will be “relegated” » in the FIBA ​​Europe Cup to continue his European career.

The “two-headed” reached +10 in the first and +12 in the second period, maintained the lead in the third, but his poor defense on the perimeter shots of the Turks in the fourth allowed the “hosts” to make several runs and lead even with +9 and withstand the pressure of Massimo Cancellieri’s players.

The leaders of the Greek team were Reynolds with 16 and Katsivelis with 12 points. For the winners, Williams stood out with 19, Russell with 16, Wright with 13, Tyree with 12 and Aldridge with 11 points.

The match

Petkimspor found the solutions at the start of the match and took a 5-0 lead in the bad defense of the “two-header”. PAOK responded with a 4-0 run with the right choices in the Turkish racket. The perimeter shots of Massimo Cancellieri’s players helped them go on an 8-0 run with Upson and Katsiveli as the protagonists and take a 14-7 lead with the many offensive rebounds of the “black and white”. With a new 4-0 run, PAOK led 18-9 and a new 4-0 run by the Greek team ended the quarter at 22-12.

Persedis’ three-pointer made it 25-14 for PAOK at the start of the second period and Reynolds made it +13 for the “double-header”. Henderson’s three-pointer made it 30-17, but there the PAOK players had no solutions either from the perimeter or from the racket. The defense of the Italian coach was not effective and Petkimspor found three consecutive three-pointers led by Wright and, with a 12-0 run, reduced to 30-29 at the end of the half, while the Thessalonikians missed consecutive rebounds. PAOK had 7/15 two-pointers, 15 rebounds and 10 assists and Petkimspor 6/17 three-pointers and 25 rebounds.

The Americans of PAOK maintained +1 to +3 at the start of the third period with many solutions inside the opposing racket. Aldridge’s three-pointer gave the Turks a +2. At 41-43, the three three-pointers of the “black and white”, two from Reynolds, made it 50-43 for the “two-headed” who found a bad zone defense against him. But even his own defense faltered in the perimeter and Russell starred in a 7-0 Petkimspor run that brought the score to 50-50. Bartley’s three-pointer at 2” brought PAOK to 53-50 at the end of the quarter.

Petkimspor went on a 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter to take a 55-53 lead. Van Beek and Russell’s three-pointers gave the Turkish team +7 against a defense that began to tire and could not make the marks. Petkimspor maintained +4 to +5 inside the Greek racket, maintaining the supremacy in rebounds, but Katsiveli’s three-pointer reduced the score to 63-66. A 3-0 run by the Turks made it 63-69 and Russell’s 3-pointer made it 65-72. A personal 4-0 by Williams brought the score to 67-76 at 41” and effectively gave the victory to the “hosts”, who eventually reached 69-79 and left PAOK out of the BCL.

The quarters: 22-12, 30-29, 53-50, 69-79

The statistics