Aris made a new beginning in Athens and beat Panellinios 65-73 (halftime score 36-36) in their Game for Day 24 of the Hellenic Championships, sending out the message that things ain’t over just yet for this team. Despite the absence of injured Andrew Betts and Nikos Chatzivrettas, the rest of David Blatt’s players were stunning in the 4th quarter and celebrated a deserved victory, which boosts their morale ahead of the regular season finish and the playoffs start.
The “yellows” led 0-5 and 5-10 in the beginning, but the local team responded with an 8-0 run and made it 13-10. The 1st quarter ended 26-21 for Panellinios, who scored 5 in a row in the end of it and kept a slight lead into the 2nd period, too. Aris made two consecutive three-pointers by Richardson and Barlos to take the helm once more (32-36, with 2:22 remaining), but Ilias Zouros’s team got level just before halftime.
The 3rd period had ups-and-downs for Aris, which had the upper hand for the most part, but suffered a 9-2 run, which made the score 53-48 for the locals. Nevertheless, the 4th quarter was amazing for David Blatt’s players, who started with two three-pointers in a row by Kakiouzis and ran a 0-10 partial score, taking the lead by 57-62. And they kept it until the very end thanks to their great defense, which gave them the opportunity to lead by 7 (60-67) with 4:41 to go and make it 63-73 with 2:30 to go. In the remaining amount of time, Aris’s defense was still unbeatable and only conceded two points, getting to a victory which restores the team’s self-esteem.
Referees: Panagiotis Anastopoulos, Charalambos Karakatsounis, Nikos Somos.
Periods: 26-21, 36-36 (halftime), 57-52, 65-73.
PANELLINIOS (Ilias Zouros): Xanthopoulos, Papamakarios 8 (2), Charalambidis 6 (1), Kalaitzis 2, Owens 3, Ostojic 4, Petroulas, Kombodietas 5 (1), Blakney 18 (3), Kolokas, Davis 4, Vougioukas 15.
ARIS (David Blatt): Clark 6 (2), Miles 14 (1), Walsh 15 (3), Richardson 11 (1), Dikoudis 1, Skordilis 2, Paunic 4, Kakiouzis 13 (2), Barlos 7 (1).
Photos: Icon Press / Giannis Liakos
