AEK had good moments in defense (less) and offense (more), but that wasn’t enough to leave Smyrna as the winner. Karsijaka was able to prevail in the premiere of the regular season of the Basketball Champions League (91:88), although he played without an audience on his side (ss: wears a two-match behind closed doors suspension from last year), with Eric McCollum (29 points on 7/13 shooting and 10/10 shooting) and Angel Delgado (17 points, 12 rebounds) making the difference at perimeter and with the racquet, respectively.

Only six Union players (all foreigners) found their way into the opposing basket, all of whom finished the game with double-digit points. First and best was Akil Mitchell (17 points, 9 rebounds), while Cameron McGriff ended the game with a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds).

Next week, AEK has a second away game in a row. This time against Rezzo Emilia (10.12., 21:30).

The race

The game had a good pace from the first few minutes, with Karsijaka having a small lead, but AEK dominated from the 6th minute. Tim Frazier took his gun (he had 3/3 threes in a minute and a half) and led the +6 (15-21) team of Elias Kanzouris at the end of the first period, in which the visitors had 2/3 two-pointers and 5/12 three-hand.

The lead remained in Greek hands until the 15th minute of the game (27:30) before it was Karsigiaka’s turn to score consistently from the outside line. Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Eric McCollum took more initiative and gave Ufu Saritsa’s side an attacking rhythm that led by +3 (35:32 at 18′). But not for long as the first part ended with “X” (42-42), with Karsijaka having 51.6% of shots and AEK having 45.45% of shots.

The third quarter did not go well for AEK until the 26th minute after Eric McCollum found an attacking rhythm and caused a lot of damage. So much so that his own points allowed Karsijaka to build +10 (63-53 at 26′) and feel more confident. But the good thing for Ilias Kanzouris was that his players reacted very quickly. Kenny Williams stepped forward and scored +1 (64-65 at 28′) for the Union, in a game that continued to have a frenetic pace and big swings in swing.

From there, neither team seemed able to pull off a safety margin. Yes, Carcigliaca was ahead for the most part, but that didn’t guarantee her in the least that Tim Frazier would provide the solutions whenever there was…a problem. AEK continued to stay close and threatened (81-79 at 37′ and 86-84 at 39′) but didn’t find the big shots they were looking for.

The failure of the closing shot (particularly from 6:75) in the final minutes proved to be an unsolvable problem when Eric McCollum gave the free throw to 17.6” and forced AEK to lose in the premiere of the Basketball Champions League group stage.

THE REFEREES: Conte-Calatrava-Kukelczyk.

THE DECADES: 15-21, 42-42, 69-65, 91-88.

CARSIGIAKA (Saritsa): Tz. Brown 17 (3/4 2-pointers, 3/6 3-pointers, 2/3 shots), B. Brown 8 (1 3-pointers, 5 rebounds), Kuzminskas 13 (1/4 2 -Pointers, 3/5 3-pointers, 2/4 shots), McCollum 29 (2/7 2-pointers, 5/6 3-pointers, 10/10 shots, 4 assists), Sipahi 7 (1/7 3- Pointers), Akiazili, Delgado 17 (8/10 2-pointers, 1/1 shot, 12 rebounds), Durmaz, Flaten.

AEK (Kantzouris): Madsen 10 (1 3-pointers, 6 rebounds), McGriff 11 (2 3-pointers, 10 rebounds), Mitchell 19 (6/8 2-pointers, 1/2 3-pointers, 4/6 shots, 9 rebounds), Strelnieks 15 (2/6 3-pointers, 6 assists), Williams 17 (3/10 3-pointers), Filippakos, Frazier 16 (0/4 2-pointers, 5/9 3-pointers, 1/ 1 shot, 9 assists, 5 turnovers), Koniaris, Papadakis, Persidis, Petropoulos.

Karsijaka’s team stats: 18/34 2-pointers, 13/29 3-pointers, 16/19 shots, 30 rebounds (24 defense + 6 offense), 20 assists, 11 turnovers, 6 steals, 1 block.

Team stats from AEK: 15/26 2-pointers, 14/35 3-pointers, 16/20 shots, 35 rebounds (26 defense + 9 offense), 22 assists, 15 turnovers, 5 steals.