On Friday (March 24th) AEK will determine its opponent in the quarterfinals of the Basketball Champions League. For now, the yellow-blacks know they’re going into a best-of-three streak (the first of two wins moves into the Final Four) at a home disadvantage, but with hopes of overcoming it and clinching the trophy in a few weeks.

Tenerife, Bonn and Hapoel Jerusalem are the possible opponents of AEK, as the Israelis finished first in their group on Wednesday evening (22.3) from Strasbourg (71-63). Tenerife was 4:2 in the first leg and 5:1 in the second, Bonn 5:1 in the first leg and 6:0 in the second and Hapoel 5:1 in the first leg and 5:1 in the second.

The 4-2 that saw AEK finish the second group stage of the Basketball Champions League is a great record but left the yellow-blacks in second place behind Unicaja Malaga.

The goal of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the competition was achieved, with the Yellow-Blacks knowing they would play in a best-of-three series (on the two wins) with home advantage to qualify for the Final Four.

AEK plays against Tenerife, Bonn, Strasbourg or Hapoel Jerusalem. The latter two play in France on Wednesday evening (22/3), with the winner taking first place in Group I and the loser being a possible opponent for the yellow-blacks.

The crowd was back to support them, AEK gave a good performance against Malaga on Tuesday night (3/21) but in the end they lost 65-75 thereby losing first place in the group to continue in basketball playoffs Champions League with a home handicap to qualify for the Final Four.

The Yellow-Blacks finished the game with 3/19 three-pointers and that was the element that hurt them more than anything else, with the absence of Janis Strelnieks (for the remainder of the season) being more than apparent at several points in the game. Lemar, Miles and Oriola did not have a good night in the execution and AEK is now waiting to find out which team they will fight which will result in a tie. This will be one of Tenerife, Bonn, Strasbourg or Hapoel Jerusalem.

For its part, Málaga took first place and home rights for the best-of-three series, so it will be favorites to reach the Final Four. The Andalusians had 19 assists for 11 errors, they covered Kendrick Perry’s bad night and with Tyson Carter outstanding in attack, they got the result that they celebrated hard in the final.

THE REFEREES: Zurapovic, Listska, Kozlovskis

THE DECADES: 15-21, 38-39, 55-59, 65-75

AEK (Kantzouris): Flionis 4 (1/5 shots, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Yankovic 9 (3/4 2 points, 3/3 shots, 5 rebounds), Lemar 12 (5/15 shots, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Miles 7 (1), Mitchell 14 (5/6 2 points, 4/6 3 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists), Gondikas 2, Koniaris, Madsen 1, Oriola 6 (3/7 shots, 4 rebounds), Papadakis 5 (1), Petropoulos, Xanthopoulos 5 (1 three-pointer, 4 assists)

MALAGA (Navarro): Barreiro 3 (1), Diath 3 (1 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), Kalinoski 5 (1), Kravis 9 (4/6 2-pointers), Osetkowski 7 (4 rebounds), Brithuela 13 (2/3 2-pointers, 3/4 3-pointers), Carter 15 (4/7 2-pointers, 1/4 3-pointers, 4/4 shots), Ejim, Perry 1 (0/4 shots, 4 assists), Sima 10 (4/6 2 points, 2/2 shots, 6 rebounds), Thomas 9 (1)

Team stats from AEK: 21/37 2-pointers, 3/19 3-pointers, 14/17 shots, 36 rebounds (25 defensive – 11 offensive), 16 assists, 5 steals, 1 block, 13 turnovers

Malaga team statistics: 20/39 2-pointers, 8/25 3-pointers, 11/14 shots, 42 rebounds (27 defensive – 15 offensive), 19 assists, 4 steals, 5 blocks, 11 turnovers