Aris’s journey in this season’s Eurocup ended in Valencia, in a bitter way, as the “yellows” lost to Power Electronics Valencia 85-67 (halftime 47-28) in the second leg of the quarterfinals. David Blatt’s team, which needed an 8-point win to get qualified to the Final Four, wasn’t nearly as good as it should be in order to challenge their in-form opponents at “Pabellon Fuente de San Luis”.
Aris took the lead only once in the game (7-8 with a lay-up by Miles, at minute 5), but in the next play Valencia score 5 points, because of an unsportsmanlike foul by Chatzivrettas. Thhings went even worse for the visitors, who had 0/5 three-point shots in the 1st quarter and saw the Spanish side take an important advantage (17-10 at 9’, 22-14 at 10’).
The “yellows” trimmed the difference down to 4 point (24-20) thanks to a 0-6 run, but the local team responded with their own 7-0 run (31-20) and didn’t stop there. Led by Kelati, who made every shot he took (15 points in the first half) and aided by Simeon, Valencia extended their advantage up to 19 points (47-28) by halftime.
The second part started equally awfully for Aris, which was down by 23 (54-31, 56-33, 58-33) in the middle of the 3rd period, but towards the end of it managed to reduce the difference somewhat (60-44 at 28’).
The remaining time lacked true interest, but the “yellows” tried to react and came as close as 11 points (66-55 at 34’, 73-62 at 38’). Nevertheless, they couldn’t keep up until the end and Valencia ran a 9-0, eventually getting the score difference to 18 points (85-67).
Referees: Romualdas Brazauskas (Lithuania), Fernando Rocha (Portugal), Nicola Maestre (France).
Periods: 22-14, 47-28 (halftime), 64-48, 85-67.
POWER ELECTRONICS VALENCIA (Neven Spahija): Perovic 9, Claver 6, Simeon 5 (1), Lishchuk 10 (1), Marinovic, Martinez 6 (2), Pietrus 2, De Colo 7 (1), Kelati 18 (4), Nielsen 13.
ARIS (David Blatt): Clark 5 (1), Betts 4, Richardson 13 (3), Chatzivrettas 6 (2), Dikoudis 3, Skordilis, Paunic, Kakiouzis 2, Barlos 7, Miles 12, Walsh 15 (2).
