Le Mans returned to the fight in Group J with a convincing 85-70 victory over Aris BSA 2003 on Tuesday. The result leaves a four-way tie in the Group J standings at 1-1. The hosts started the second half with an 18-4 run and never looked back. Aris cut the gap to 7 in the fourth quarter, but Le Mnas answered quickly to put the game away. Alex Acker dominated with 19 points and 6 assists to pace the winners, who visit Budivelnik next week. J.P. Batista added 15 points, Michailis Kakiouzis scored 14 against his former team and Ben Dewar tallied 13 and 8 rebounds. Christos Tapoutos scored 14 and grabbed 8 boards in defeat. P.J. Tucker had 13 points and Bobby Brown 10 for Aris, which made just 1 of 15 attempts from behind the arc. Aris returns home to meet BG Goettingen next week.

The game was even and exciting in the opening minutes with the lead switching hands a number of times. Le Mans was the first team with a multi-basket advantage that came on a Dewar triple to make it 12-8. Batista made it 17-10 as the hosts looked to pull away, but Dejan Borovnjak and Bryant Dunston fueled an Aris comeback of 8 straight points. Charles Kahudi put Le Mans up 19-18 after 10 minutes. The contest remained tight early in the second quarter as well. John Thomas had an impact inside for Aris, lifting the score to 23-26 and later 25-29, but a Kakiouzis triple got the hosts back within 1. Later Kostas Charalampidis connected from downtown to make it 32-36 only for the duo of Dewar and Antoine Diot to knot the game up at 38-38. Free throws from Tapoutos and Kostas Sloukas put Aris ahead before Batista scored on the offensive glass and Marc-Antoine Pellin converted a three-point play to put the hosts up 43-42 at the break.

Le Mans came out for the second half looking hungry and promptly gained control. Second-chance baskets for Kakiouzis and Batista upped the lead to 6 and soon an Acker triple and Dewar basket made it 53-44. Borovnjak’s free throws were bettered by a Kakiouzis strike from downtown that gave the hosts their first double-digit lead. Thierry Rupert continued the Le Mans push with a basket-plus-foul and before long Dewar capped an 18-4 charge that had the hosts sitting pretty with a 61-46 lead. Aris felt a sense of urgency and baskets by Tucker and Brown started to minimize the damage. Dewar ended the quarter with an offensive rebound and stuff to make it 67-54. Aris continued to apply pressure, but baskets by Acker and Rupert kept Le Mans up by double figures. Borovnjak and Kostas Charalampidis threatened when they managed to trim the score to 71-64, but soon Pellin drained a three to make it 76-66. Kakiouzis stretched the elad to 15 with just over a minute to go allowing the local fans to celebrate an important win before the final buzzer.