The upset was left in the middle, the second defeat in the Eurocup for Aris

His second loss in as many matches Eurocup met the Marsas he lost at Nick Galis Hall to the very strong and… rich Turk Telecom with 68-63.

A bad start for the hosts, they found themselves losing by 17 (13-30) in the second period, but they equalized and came to claim the match on equal footing knowing the defeat in the details.

Josh Roberts with 14 points and 9 rebounds, Landers Noley with 13 and David DeJulius with 12 points were the first scorers for the Thessalonians, who were very inaccurate (5/19 three-pointers, 18/38 two-pointers), while in 8 points with 3/13 shots was left by Toliopoulos.

Vassilis Charalambopoulos left supported (15 points-5 rebounds) for the Turkish team, before the match, old friend Olivier Hanlan was honored by the management of Aris. Kyle Alexander with 12 points and 14 rebounds and Anthony Brown with 17 points and 6 rebounds are the leaders.

Next match for Aris on Saturday (17:00) at the same stadium with AEK Betsson for the premiere of the league, while a game follows on Tuesday (8/10, 19:00) against Lietkambelis in Lithuania.

The match

Giannis Kastritis’ team entered the game numb and chased the score from the beginning. Somehow, 6-11 at five minutes became 11-21 shortly before the end of the quarter (13-21), with Turk Telecom making 4/10 three-pointers against 0/4 for the home team. Akpinar and Alexander were big headaches for the Aris defense, while a burst by Brown brought the difference to +17, 13-30, halfway through the second period. A quick 7-0 from Roberts and DeJulius gave a sign of life from the “yellows” (20-30), but they couldn’t get any closer before the break (26-36) as he continued to miss (1/8 three-pointers ) and make a lot of mistakes (7 for just 6 assists).

The second part started like the first, with a three-pointer (this time… direct and not indirect) by Charalambopoulos for 26-39, but Aris launched its counterattack. Landers and DeJulius started to eat away at the difference and Toliopoulos with a three-pointer brought the match to the shootout, 39-41. Brown’s unsportsmanlike foul on Bohorides 39” before the end of the third period gave Aris the opportunity for the first lead in the match, 46-45, with the quarter ending in a tie, 47-47. The injury of Charalambopoulos at the beginning of the fourth period “froze” the entire stadium, with the derby continuing until the end. Aris wasted a lot of attacks and Erdem Can’s team laid the foundation for victory with Brown’s basket, reaching +5, 59-64, with 58.9” to go. DeJulius kept hope alive by cutting it to 63-66 at 16, but Brown’s shooting composure decided the match.

Ten minutes: 13-21, 26-36, 47-47, 63-68

See the statistics here