It sweeps Peja and advances… groups to Marousi

Clearly superior, Maroussi swept 98-75 over Peya at the indoor venue of Agios Thomas in the first FIBA ​​Europe Cup qualifier between them and goes into next Thursday’s rematch at the same stadium to defend +23, making the essential step for their entry in the groups of the second tier organization of the European federation.

With many offensive solutions and a very good defense for most of the match, Nikos Vetoula’s players reached double-digit differences early on and +11 at the end of the first half and +24 in the fourth period.

Leading the winners were Sanogo with 20, Reynolds, Stowe with 18 and Fredrickson with 12 points. For the Kosovars, Cowart saved with 21, Daniels with 17, Wells with 14 and Yeo with 13 points.

The match

With many offensive options in the opponent’s racket and first “violin” Stowe, Marousi led 9-2 and 11-3 Peja, with the American forward making a “break” both near and far from the Kosovo team’s basket. Langewein and Reynolds went on 6-0 runs to make it 17-3 and 19-5 for the home team. A 5-0 run by Peya reduced the score to 19-10, but Nikos Vetoula’s many offensive player options brought +12 and Reynolds’ 3-pointer +14 in the visitors’ effort to close out the first period.

The failure on both sides at the start of the second period brought the score to 36-23 for the “yellows”. There, Peya went on a streak and dropped to -9 with her Americans. Maroussi responded with a 3-0 of their own against their own Americans and went to +13 and at that point the difference was up and down +11 to +13 for the home team. Sanogo took the initiative and brought +15 for the Greek team and the many choices and rebounds of Nikos Vetoula’s players kept them at +13 to +15. At 50-36, a 5-0 Peya run made it 50-41 and, with the margin going between +9 and +11, Nikolaidis made it 54-43 at halftime. Maroussi had 13/21 two-pointers, 19/22 shots and 23 rebounds and Peya 14/23 two-pointers, 3/8 shots and 13 rebounds.

A 6-0 run by Peya at the start of the third period brought the Kosovars up 54-49, but Nikos Vetoula’s Americans with a 9-0 run brought the Greek team up 63-49. Reynolds’ three-pointer brought +15 and Sanogo’s +14 in the visitors’ attempt to reduce inside the basket. With a 5-0 run, Maroussi reached +19 and Yow finished at 74-58 at the quarter.

On a 4-0 run to start the fourth quarter, Peya was down 74-62, but an 8-0 run by Amarousi, led by Reynolds, made it 82-62 in a game that featured a lot of turnovers and loose ends. Karakostas brought the score to 84-63 and with a new 6-0 run by the Americans of the home team, +23 came. With a 6-0 run, Maroussi reached 94-68. The “yellows” relaxed and accepted a 4-0 run from the Kosovars and the difference went to +22 to +24 for the final 98-75.

The quarters: 34-20, 54-43, 74-58, 98-75

The statistics