The first game in the series turned into a nightmare for PAOK. The second was a real battle in Palataki. The Thessaloniki team welcomed Strasbourg to the basketball Champions League play-in, put on an impressive performance but saw David DiLeo with 1/3 shots in the end, so a third game was canceled and the French continued in the round of 16 of the event.

Thessaloniki finished the game 6/21 threesomes, had seven misses and 12 assists for the same number of mistakes, while Strasbourg had 10 final passes for 15 mistakes, of which PAOK scored 20 points. But that was not enough, because in the final he lacked a clear head, Aris Lykogiannis smiled at his … misfortune and the guests could hardly believe that a third game in a row would not be necessary.

The race

PAOK didn’t start the match well, better than Strasbourg to be precise, which built a six-point lead (13: 7) with two threes from Jarel Eddie. The French stayed at that distance and finished the season +8 with 4/6 two points, 4/7 three points and 3/4 shots, at a time when Thessaloniki had only one assist and a total of 6/18 shots. Eddie’s fourth threesome at 22:35 didn’t cut the legs of the hosts, who reacted with a 10-0 to close the gap and be back to life at halftime (34:37) to take the win. The creation part (4 assists for 6 mistakes) hurt the hosts, but it hurt the French too (7 assists for 9 mistakes).

From the moment it survived, PAOK found an opportunity to move forward. He did it with a three from DiLeo for 44-42 in 24 ‘, with the French losing, falling to -8 (50-42) and giving the people an even bigger boost. 57-52 of 30 ‘held Strasbourg upright with Marvin Jones and Demetri Rivers taking advantage of the damage caused by their opponents’ fouls, but injury to one of the three referees froze the Thessalonians. Meig equalized with a torfoul to 72:72, Toliopoulos reacted and together with Kamarianos gave the game a thriller character.

A difficult two-point from Roberson (78-80) was not answered by PAOK, but DiLeo conceded the offensive rebound after his own three-point, executed a new one, won three shots, set one and offered Strasbourg and the victory and qualification in the round of 16 of the tournament.

THE REFEREES: Conte, Yilmaz, Calatrava

THE TEN MINUTES: 15-23, 34-37, 57-52, 79-80

PAOK (Lykogiannis): Love 6 (2/3 two points, 5 assists), DiLeo 9 (2/5 two points, 1/5 three points, 2/4 shots, 5 rebounds), Kamberidis 3 (1), Toliopoulos 9 ( 2/3 two points, 1/5 three points, 2/5 shots), Jankovic 11 (1/4 two points, 1/2 three points, 6/6 shots, 10 rebounds, 2 assists), Rivers 10 (1) , Li 2, Christodoulou, Kamarianos 8 (4/5 two points), Mantzaris 6 (1), Jones 15 (6/10 two points, 3/5 shots, 5 rebounds)

Strasbourg (Tuovi): Roberson 16 (3), Cavalier 6 (1), Udanoch 2, Lansdowne 10 (4/4 two points, 5 rebounds), Mage 3, Mitchell 10 (6/6 shots), Maureen 2, Bohacic 12 ( 3/3 two points, 2/4 three points), Eddie 19 (6), Courier

PAOK team statistics: 21/37 two points, 6/21 three points, 19/26 shots, 33 rebounds (24 defensive – 9 offensive), 12 assists, 5 steals, 1 block, 12 errors

Strasbourg team stats: 14/25 two points, 12/29 three points, 16/20 shots, 35 rebounds (28 defensive – 7 offensive), 10 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 15 errors