He “bombarded” Riga behind 6.75m. and AEK secured its European future!

Press it Stripe at the “Sunel Arena” and secured its European future and after the group stage in the BCL n AEK Betsson BC!

Having excellent percentages behind 6.75m. with 14/29 3-pointers (48.3%)but also versatility in attack, Dragan Sakota’s team did not have much difficulty against the Latvians, whom they defeated with score 80-70 for the 4th matchday of the competition.

With this victory, “Union” secured a place in the top three of the group that gives qualification to the knockouts of the competition, remaining in the hunt for first place – and indeed with good chances – for direct qualification to the “16” institution.

The first scorer for the winners was Bryce with 15 points and 4 rebounds, with Kuzminskas to add 14 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists and Hale and Allin each 11 points.

For Riga, which fell to 1-3, stood out Shannon with 19 points and 7 rebounds.

The match:

OR AEKwho started the match with Hamp, Hale, Nezipoglu, Gray and Golden, entered the match somewhat sluggishly, with Riga taking advantage and taking a 7-0 lead in the first minute. A 3-pointer by Netzipoglou cut the deficit to 3-7 before the Latvians responded with a quick 5-0 run to make it 3-12 in the 4th minute. A 3-pointer by Hale and a 2-pointer by Hamp on the ensuing possession cut the home team’s lead to 8-12, before a string of fouls and poor rebounding allowed Riga to find easy points on the racket, pushing the lead to +12 to 9. -21 in 8′. The voices of Sakota… took place, with the hosts reacting and with the three-pointers of Kuzminskas and Bryce, the shots of Allin, but also the improbable buzzer beater nailing of Kouseloglou, they managed to reduce at 19-23 of the period.

AEK entered the second quarter with the speed gained from the good finish of the first quarter. With “ally” her her excellent and aggressive defense, not only did he keep Riga to just 4 points for almost five minutes, but he managed with baskets by Kouseloglou, Kuzminskas, Alin and Skordilis to go at 36-27 at 15′! Two consecutive 3-pointers by Andronikashvili cut the Latvians to 38-35 two minutes later, with Bryce making it 40-35 and Hamp’s 3-pointer in the final seconds sending the “Union” into the locker room in front of score 43-36.

With the foot on… the gas, the “yellow and black” entered the third quarter, where the Hunter Hale with two back-to-back 3-pointers, and one by Alin shortly after, they went at +10 for 52-42 in the 23rd minute. Riga responded with a 5-0 run of their own (52-47), with Kouseloglou shortly after finding another three-pointer for AEK to 55-47 at 25′. Somewhere there came a “blackout” for “Union”, which was making bad and hasty choices in the attack, with the guests reducing to 55-52 and shortly after to 59-54 in the 29th minute, with Gray in the final writes the 62-56 of the quarter.

Strong start for AEK in the fourth and final period, with Bryce’s three-pointer and Kuzminskas’ shot making the difference at +10 for 66-56 in the 31st minute. The Latvians then rallied to 6 (66-60), however, Kuzminskas’ five points and Bryce’s as many sent Sakota’s team to the maximum advantage, at +12 and 76-64 in the 36th minute! Somewhere there, the tide turned in favor of the home team, since in the remaining time, they did not allow Riga to re-enter the match, thus reaching the victory with final 80-70.

The quarters: 19-23, 48-36, 62-56, 80-70.

See here the statistics of the match.