Aris BSA reached the 8 wins in the Greek league after downing Kolossos Rhodes in his home court for the 10th playing-day of A1 division.
The “yellows” played great defense over Kolossos and by taking advantage by the efficient offensive game during the second and the fourth quarter, won easily the game. The first quarter started enthusiastically for Aris BSA, who reached the 7-1 in the score with Sean Marshall, Keydren Clark and Dimitris Tsaldaris scoring the first points of their team. On the other hand, Steven Smith and Nikos Papanikolopoulos managed to score 8 points in a row and cought Aris BSA in the score for the 9-9. The two teams could not score easily and the first quarter finished by 13-11, with the “yellows” having the lead in the score. During the first 3 minutes of the second quarter, Aris BSA scored 9 points with Greek wing-forward Tsaldaris leading the “yellows” to the 22-13 in the score. Anton Gavel added 8 points after scoring two triples and a 2 pt shot, while Smith with a fade-away shot made the score 25-17. The defense by the “yellows” was tough and great, leading Kolossos to 4 turnovers. Aris BSA continued scoring and with a goal-foul of Marshall reached the 40-23 at the end of the first half.
In the third quarter Kolossos managed to get back in the game by playing good defense and scoring in the offense easy shots. The “yellows” could not find the way to score, while Papanikolopoulos, Smith, Ceranic and Charisis scored for Kolossos. With 4 free throws, Steven Smith made the 51-44 with 1' 30'' to go for the third quarter, but Nikos Argyropoulos and Sean Marshall scored two 2 pt shots for the 55-44. During the last quarter Aris BSA played great defense and as a result Kolossos managed to score only 9 points. Gavel and Tsaldaris continued their personal offensive show reaching the 17 and 18 points each, while Smith with an incredible dunk gained the applaud from the fans of Aris BSA. Final score 72-53 and Aris BSA added one more win in his record of 8-2.
During the press conference, Spyros Panteliadis stated:
“Today we were not as competitive as we were in the previous games and when you do not play good for 40' against Aris BSA in his home court, then you cannot fight for the win. We were well prepared for the game, but we could not do what we wanted in the court. You have to be totally concentrated when you play against Aris BSA and you have to play good defense and grab rebounds in order to win. He had some good moments in our game, but the lose of the game with 19 points hurt us as a team, and also I have to say that the whole story with our arriving in Thessaloniki has nothing to do with our today's performance. I wish good luck to Aris BSA and I am thankful for the fans who applauded me. As for us, we have to continue our effort in order to reach the expectations of the club.”
For the “yellows”, Kostas Papanikolaou stated:
“We were concentrated and fought for the win as the coaching staff wanted from us. Through our effort we managed to reach the win.”
The head coach of Kolossos Rhodes, mr Giannis Sfairopoulos stated:
“I want to congratulate Aris BSA for his fair win. We were not efficient in our offensive game and we tried to play good defense during the second half. We managed to be close to the score but Aris BSA is a very good team and know what to do in the court, and as a result we lost by 19 points. We are two teams with different goals and we have to concentrate in the next game which is very important for us.”
Finally, mr Andrea Mazzon noticed:
"Unfortunately, we did not have the chance to have our fans for one more time due to the demonstrations taking place throughout Greece and this drives me crazy. We do not know what to do, but every basketball person has to do something in order to help put an end to this situation. These facts destroy country's reputation. As for the game now, we did not have a perfect game, but we managed to play good defense over Kolossos for 30 minutes. I want to congratulate the Greek players of the team, because they help every foreign player by encouraging him in and out of the locker rooms. The team of Kolossos Rhodes had a tough day and they even did not know if they could travel to Thessaloniki. They are a good team and I am sure that they will fight for their staying in the division. As for the 53 points Kolossos scored, it is something that every coach wants to achieve. During the third quarter we were not concentrated but I do not want to state something negative at the moment, because some players are not used to play two games per week and it is not easy for them to adjust to this fact.”
