AEK looked to stay within striking distance of the Basket League leaders, but Kolossos cut their lead to 73-67 in Rhodes, a win built on the explosion of What Jay Starks in the fourth third and of course the 24 offensive rebounds.

The American guard, the clear leader of the Sears and the league’s third-top scorer, surpassed his standards this year, scoring 25 points (in nearly 38 minutes of action) with three big shots in the fourth quarter and upsetting the Union’s defensive balance , dem similar solutions were missing in the attack. In addition, the team of Elias Kanzouris, who returned as an opponent in Rhodes, could not control the defensive rebound, and by letting the home team renew so many attacks, they faced a serious problem next and could not avoid defeat and stood out 5- 2.

For his part, Kolossos, who started the first half with 1/12 threes but found 7/13 in the second half, rose to 3-4 thanks to the 3-0 count at home.

The race

With a more correct competitive approach, AEK managed to wear down Kolossos and had a slight lead early on, reaching +5 (10-15, 15-20). During that time, the Yellow-Blacks had found 11 points from shots, while the Marines wasted nine three-pointers in ten attempts!

It’s just that Union didn’t show a similar reaction when they opened up rotation, which allowed the home side to stay in touch. At 15′ the two teams were tied 26-26 as the yellow-blacks used back-to-back attacks while offensive rebounds (10) gave Kolossos a second chance and a joint goal.

Strelnieks’ marksmanship from the perimeter could be the basis of AEK’s escape from the colossus (28-33), only his overall odds were low and the errors were enough for 19 minutes of play.

But not even the Rhodians could take advantage of the circumstances. 1/15 back from 6:75 minutes in the first 25 minutes was an obstacle to gaining control. Mitchell’s unsportsmanlike attack on Katsivelis seemed to upset the balance as the Colossus launched an 8-0 run, but play was so poor that momentum waned and the fragile image remained intact.

Anyway, when Starks exploded (three threes in a row), AEK showed the necessary reaction to stay alive (65-65, 36-30″). Her problem was that she wasted valuable shots while the sailors found shots from the outside ( 71-66, 38’32”). After Frazier missed the Union’s key offensive line and the Rhodians grabbed two more offensive rebounds (24 total), the credits dropped in a game where defense had the upper hand.

THE REFEREES: Papapetrou – Katrachouras, Tsimouris

THE DECADES: 15-20, 33-33, 49-48, 73-67

COLOSSUS (Papatheodorou): Starks 25 (4/11 two-pointers, 4/10 three-pointers, 6 assists, 5 errors), Kofi 10 (2/6 three-pointers, 5 rebounds), Hatzidakis 6 (5 rebounds), Katsivelis 1, Giannaopoulos 17 (5/8 twos, 1/6 threes), Moreira 6 (6 rebounds), Chrysikopoulos 6 (8 rebounds), Dixon, Billis, Iordanou, Teague 2

AEK (Kantzouris): Fraser 15 (2/5 2-pointers, 2/4 3-pointers, 5 assists), Flionis 2, McGriff 8 (0/5 3-pointers, 8 rebounds), Madsen 6, Williams 10 (2/ 4 3-pointers, 3 assists), Koniaris, Petropoulos, Filippakos 4, Mitchell 10 (3/8 two-pointers, 0/1 three-pointers, 6 rebounds, 4 errors), Strelnieks 12 (1/1 two-pointers, 3/7 threesome)

Colossus team statistics: 18/40 2-pointers, 8/25 3-pointers, 13/19 shots, 48 ​​rebounds (24 defensive – 24 offensive), 15 assists, 6 steals, 16 turnovers, 1 block

Team stats from AEK: 13/27 2-pointers, 7/23 3-pointers, 20/29 shots, 28 rebounds (18 defensive – 10 offensive), 17 assists, 8 steals, 14 turnovers, 3 blocks