PAOK bombed Ritas with strikers Hunts and Riley and will qualify for the BCL last 16 in Lithuania

PAOK won the thriller with Ritas Vilnius (81-78) thanks to Jalen Riley’s 7-inch three before the last horn sounded, leveling the Basketball Champions League play-in series. Aris Lykogianni’s team will return to Lithuania (17/01) and will play the rest of their games there to qualify for the top-16 of the tournament.

Dikefalos was particularly accurate from the perimeter, shooting 46.7% and hitting 14/30 threes. Jalen Hunts was the Greek team’s top scorer with 20 points (4/5 2 points, 4/8 3 points), followed by Jalen Riley with 15 (0/3 2 points, 4/9 3 points, 3/3 shots) , 4 assists and 2 steals.

Marcus Foster stood out among the losers. The former Panathinaikos guard scored 31 points (5/8 two-pointers, 5/12 three-pointers, 6/6 shots) in 31’19” of attendance.

The race

Marcus Foster hungrily entered the floor and scored the first 8 points for Rita, who also racked up 6 offensive rebounds in the first third and went up to 11 points ahead (9-20, 6’30”).

PAOK, with Jaylen Hunts entering on the floor, began to pick up the pace, reducing it to 6 (17-23) at 10′ while it didn’t take long to take the reins and go 29-28 ahead go in the middle of the second quarter.

Psychology had already changed hands and the home side was +8 (46-34) at half-time with Hunts on 14 points with 4/5 three-pointers and a very impressive upset.

Data swapped after the pause. Ritas was the absolute boss in the third period and again took the lead with a single score of 24:11 (57:58, 30th). Marcus Foster scored 13 points in that span, bringing his total to 28.

Benedek Varadi also came on for Ritas, scoring 12 points from 30′ to 35′ to give his team a 10-point lead (67-77). However, PAOK had yet to say its last word and managed to pull off the big upset and seal the win after Riley’s crucial three-pointer 7 inches from the final.

THE REFEREES: Conte, Castillo, Voginovic

THE DECADES: 17-23, 46-34, 57-58, 81-78

PAOK (Lykogiannis): hands 20 (4/5 2-pointers, 4/8 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 3 fouls)Kamberidis 3 (1), Poli 7 (1/2 3 points, 4 rebounds), Seibert , Tsiakmas , Christidis 2 , Franke 10 (1/3 3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists), Margaritis 7 (1/ 1 3-pointers, 6 rebounds), Riley 15 0/3 2-pointers, 4/9 3-pointers, 3/3 shots, 4 assists, 2 steals)Salustros 8 (2/2 3-pointers, 4 rebounds)

RITA VILNIUS (Zibenas): Ehontas 12 (8 rebounds, 2 assists), Lekounas 3 (1), Masioulis 2, Varadi 12 (1), Foster 31 (5/8 2-pointers, 5/12 3-pointers, 6/6 shots, 3 rebounds)Fredrickson 5 (1/3 2-pointers, 0/5 3-pointers, 3/3 shots, 6 assists, 4 turnovers), Kairis 3, Normandas 2, Radjevicius 6 (9 rebounds), Williams 2

PAOK team stats: 16/32 2-pointers, 14/30 3-pointers, 7/13 shots, 32 rebounds (23 defensive – 9 offensive), 15 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks, 10 turnovers

Rita Vilnius team stats: 21/35 2-pointers, 7/26 3-pointers, 15/18 shots, 36 rebounds (25 defensive – 11 offensive), 16 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 11 fouls

The next game of the two teams: PAOK and Ritas meet for the third and final time (17/01) on Lithuanian soil, with the winner of the match securing a ticket to the BCL top-16.