With a 1-0 win against Tofas, AEK made the big step towards qualifying for the TOP 16 of the Basketball Champions League

The episode before the game against Rezzo Emilia forced AEK to enter the Basketball Champions League play-in without their world. On Wednesday evening (January 4th), the yellow-black Tofas received the first game of the best-of-three series, got the positive result (73:70) after a nerve-wracking final thriller and took a big step towards qualifying for the TOP 16 of the competition, which is held in four groups of four.

Janis Strelnieks performed unbelievably at the decisive points of the match, Akil Mitchell – Isaiah Miles followed and with 21 assists for 22 baskets AEK Tofas didn’t let the break come. Rob Gray and Burke Ugiurlou were a separate team for Dimitris Priftis, who eventually saw chances for the overtime shot but poor execution from his players.

AEK started the game poorly (4-13 mid first period), with Tofas having four goalscorers and 3/3 threes up to that point. At the end of the quarter, the Yellow-Blacks had 3/13 shots and 8/11 shots, while the Turks had 8/16 shots and hadn’t taken a shot. Still, the game was level in the second quarter, with the hosts continuing to hit from the line (14/18 shots in 20′) and hoping to be more effective on the three-pointer.

Strelnieks and Miles did a great job early in the second half, with AEK building a six-point lead (46-40) midway through the third period without capitalizing on it, and play continued in the same pattern. Strelnieks did incredible things in the fourth too, scoring a string of points to put it 69-62 with 37 minutes and in the final thriller, first Brymo and then Gray missed shots after a Frazier foul to put the game into overtime to send .

THE REFEREES: Lanzarini, Baldini, Kozlovskis

THE DECADES: 16-20, 35-37, 52-49, 73-70

AEK (Kantzouris): Flionis 9 (3/3 2-pointers, 1/2 3-pointers, 3 rebounds, 4 assists), Fraser 2 (3 rebounds, 5 assists), Madsen 4, Mitchell 16 (6/12 2-pointers ). , 4/6 shots, 7 rebounds, 3 assists), Strelnieks 16 (4/6 3-pointers, 4/4 shots, 5 assists), Koniaris, McGriff 9 (1 3-pointers, 6/6 shots), Miles 12 (2/6 trebles, 6/7 shots, 5 rebounds), Papadakis, Petropoulos, Williams (0/6 shots), Xanthopoulos 5 (1 treble, 2 rebounds, 3 assists)

TOFAS (Receivers): Braimo 3, Ennis 10 (2), Gray 18 (4/8 2-pointers, 3/5 3-pointers, 1/2 shots, 5 assists, 7 turnovers), Toure 9 (3/4 2- Pointer, 3/4 shots, 10 rebounds), Ugyurlu 16 (3/6 2-pointers, 3/4 3-pointers, 1/2 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Buyuktuncel 2, Milaknis 3 (1), Tanisan 7(1), Thompson 2

Team stats from AEK: 13/22 2-pointers, 9/27 3-pointers, 20/26 shots, 33 rebounds (24 defensive – 9 offensive), 21 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks, 14 turnovers, 20 fouls

Tofa’s team stats: 15/33 2-pointers, 10/24 3-pointers, 10/16 shots, 40 rebounds (22 defensive – 18 offensive), 14 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks, 17 turnovers, 23 fouls

The next games of the two teams: The second game of the series will be played in Bursa on January 10th, while a third event will be played on January 18th in the closed Ano Liosia.