A.E.K.- Apollon Patras 84-78
AEK continues to play high quality basketball both outside and inside boarders, this time beating Apollon which proved to be quite an obstacle. The visitors got in front 13-20 early on but the home team stood up, ended the opening quarter trailing 18-21 and after the resume they got the upper hand. However, Apollon Patras had a great game from outside the arc, managing to stay close, 45-43 at halftime.
Mayer kept scoring and defensively they did a great job on Mavrokefalides, so AEK tried many times to get a safe lead but their opponents kept following them closely. After 3 periods the score was 63-59 but AEK had more trouble ahead as Apollon reached within one. Duncan missed and easy lay-up, the home team scored and it was clear there was a lot of pressure on the team from Patra, resulting to many misses that got them out of the game during the final minutes. Mavrokefalides who was improved at the end, was the top scorer for the winners, adding 16 points, but the player who had the most in the game was Mayer from the defeated team, with 20 (4/6 3p.)
Lavrio G.S.- A.G.O.Rethimno 69-67
Heartbreaking game in Lavrio where the locals reached their second win this season after a very tight fight. 32 seconds before the end, they were in front 65-63 and their players where more accurate from the free throw line to secure the win behind Young’s 21 and Nixon’s 19 points.
P.A.O.K- Kolossos Rhodes 64-59
In a game with many lead changes, PAOK used their extremely tough and physical defense in t he end, allowed only 4 points in the closing period and walked away with the two very important points, showing that they start to recover after a numb start. Vassileiadis and ‘Big Sofo’ both had 17 points with the Greek Center also grabbing 6 rebounds.
Koroivos Amaliadas- Aris 67-65
Aris suffered a black-out during the last 5 minutes allowing Koroivos to return from a -12 point gap and win the game in the final play shocking the team from Thessaloniki. The home team also played a big part of the game without Harris who had an injury, but even that was not enough to force them to give up. Their persistence resulted in a big shot by Davis with 6 seconds left, to give them the win. The American player was also MVP with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
Kavala B.C.- A.E.N.Kifissias 72-77 o.t. (63-63)
Another thriller this time in Kavala where the locals could not over the obstacle of Kifissia. The visitors played top-notch defense throughout the match and had Gliniadakis in great shape on his debut with 8/9 shots. Also Kasselakis had 16 points and 9 rebounds. With such stats and some luck since Robinson missed for Kavala to get the game to overtime, AENK sealed an important and difficult win on the road.
A.O. Trikala- Olympiacos 69-89
When a team scores 89 points in an away game, the chances they win are very good especially when combined with serious defense. The “Reds” scored 26 points in the opening quarter (17-26) and got in the driver’s seat, leading the game all the way from that point on. The away side shared the ball offensively with Lojeski being their top scorer with 12 points. Strawberry, Milutinov and Agravanis also added 11, but top scorer of the match was Soko with 23 for Trikala.
Arkadikos- Panathinaikos 61-78
At the start of the game, none of the two teams really cared about defense (18-27) but from then on, the visitors had to make the passage towards their basket a bit tougher only to secure the win and play it safe. Raduljica was the MVP with 21 points and he was a constant threat inside the paint, making it hard for Arkadikos to contain him.
