Even if he lost with -14 in the second period, o PAOK “cleaned” Dijon 95-81 in Pylaia for the third game of the 11th group of the “16” of the Europe Cup and reached “3 out of 3” in the group, taking a decisive step towards qualifying for the quarter-finals of the second-ranked competition FIBA Europe and leaving the French at 1-2 and in greater anxiety about their future.
Dijon led 42-28, but Massimo Cancellieri’s men went on a 13-0 run, took a small lead, and then with various individual scores and runs to +17 in the final minutes, attesting to the good form they are in the space.
The leaders of the “doubleheader” were Reynolds with 20, Kruzer with 18, Henderson with 14 and Katsivelis, Barkley with 11 points. For the French, Sengfelder stood out with 16 and McDuffie, Dokosi with 11 points.
The match
PAOK went 2-0 up at the start of the match, but then struggled inside the racket and couldn’t threaten the French with long shots, as a result of which Dijon kept the +2 in a game with too many misses on both sides . Sengfelder kept +3 for Dijon and Reynolds equalized with an indirect three-pointer. Sengfelder made a personal run of 4-0 for +4 for the French team, creating many problems for the “black and white” defense. PAOK started to collect the rebounds and with a 4-0 run equalized, with Forrester making it 20-21. There, though, a 4-0 run by Dijon ended the first quarter at 20-25.
Dijon’s long shots at the start of the second period brought +10 for the visitors to the poor defense and the failure of Massimo Cancellieri’s players, with the French’s attacking versatility and the most rebounds for the visitors and against his 1/11 three-pointers “bicep”. Camardin brought +11 for Dijon and Hrovat’s three-pointer +14. PAOK gradually found some solutions and an offensive versatility and, despite the continued bad percentages in long shots, reduced to -9. The “two-headed” managed to slowly find some three-pointers after 35-46 and with a 7-0 run with two shots from 6.75 reduced to 42-46 at the end of the half.
PAOK had 13/22 two-pointers, 3/14 three-pointers, 7/8 shots, 20 rebounds and 11 assists. Dijon had respectively 12/19 two-pointers, 5/15 three-pointers, 7/8 shots, 19 rebounds and 11 assists.
PAOK’s streak reached 13-0 at the start of the third period and the “doubleheader” led 48-46, putting the match on a different footing and having Forester as the protagonist during this time. Reynolds’ three-pointer made it 51-48 for the “two-headed”, who had neutralized Dijon’s long shots with the Italian coach’s defense and constantly collected defensive rebounds.
The 7-0 run of the “doubleheader” brought the score to 59-51 with the individual score of 31-9 of the Thessalonians making the difference. Dijon found some solutions with the long shots and with a 5-0 run it decreased 59-56, but Reynolds and Forrester brought +7. Bartley’s three-pointer made it 66-58 and Reynolds’ shots made it 67-60 at the end of the quarter.
PAOK had the solutions at the start of the fourth period and, with the amazing defense in the perimeter, they reached +12 with their foreigners, having the bonus of the shots on the quick fouls of the French, who could no longer find a three-pointer. Instead, Katsivelis’ +13 for the “doubleheader” and Bartley’s made it 82-66 and 40-20 individual scores in response to Dijon’s +16 in the middle of the second quarter.
The French with a 5-0 run dropped to -11, but the consecutive shots of the “doubleheader” maintained +10 to +13. The unsportsmanlike foul on Upson brought 88-74 with 3/3 shots of the American center, Henderson brought +15 and the match ended at 95-81 for 3/3 of the “doubleheader” in the 11th group.
The quarters: 20-25, 42-46, 67-60, 95-81
The statistics
Source: Sport Fm
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