Difficult home test for Aris, at 4th matchday of the EuroCup!
The “yellows” of Thessaloniki are against the Hapoel Jerusalem tonight (20:00, Novasports Prime, News Bulletin 247, sport-fm.gr) in Alexandrio, looking for their second consecutive European victory, after last week’s important double against Lietkambelis.
In that game his team Yannis Kastritis prevailed with 92-74, making its best appearance at the beginning of this season and having on a big night the Vasilis Toliopoulos (26 points with 6/8 three-pointers. The losses were preceded by Venezia (95-75 away) and Turk Telecom (68-63 at home), while last Sunday (13/10) he found Olympiakos in an excellent afternoon, knowing the heavy defeat with 102-72 in SEF.
As far as the competition is concerned, Mantzoukas is a thing of the past from the team, after his dispute with Kastritis and the termination of his loan from Panathinaikos AKTOR, while a divorce is also expected with Rowley Alkins. Against Olympiakos, Hodge returned after a long absence and is now normally available, while out of action remains Nate Lazewskiwhose return is approaching.
“The players were excellent against Lietkampelis. Beyond that, our first quarter with Olympiakos was not satisfactory, we discussed it. The ups and downs had to do with the mental part, so the faster we become solid in mind, the more they will decrease.”said Aris’ coach ahead of tonight’s match, while refusing to comment on Mandzouka’s much-discussed departure.
For his part, the guard of Mars, David DeJuliusadded: “We know that Hapoel Jerusalem is a very good team, with some very good players, some of whom we know from college. We have to do our best together, stop their own transition, not allow them to get second chances and be confident in our game”.
On the other hand, Hapoel Jerusalem has a 2-1 record in the competition, after its loss to Valencia (64-80) was followed by back-to-back wins against Lietkambelis (74-94) and Hamburg (89-74), but its streak was cut short last Sunday ( 13/10), when they were defeated 85-72 by Hapoel Tel Aviv. Its first scorer in this year’s EuroCup o Jared Harperwith 23 points/game).
The two teams have met twice before, in the 2009-10 season, with Aris celebrating on both occasions.
Source: Sport Fm
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