2007-08Top 16Round 6
March 19, 2008 CET: 20:15
Local time: 21:15 PALAIS DES SPORTS
Jeremiah Massey - Aris TT Bank - EB07

Aris TT Bank topping Lietuvos Rytas 83-74

Aris TT Bank finished its Euroleague campaign with a morale boost after beating Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius 83-74 on Wednesday at the Alexandrio Melathron in Thessaloniki, Greece. Both teams played their last game of the Euroleague season since Fenerbahce Ulker defeated Tau Ceramica to secure second place in Group E. L. Rytas and Aris both finish with 2-4 records, but L. Rytas is third due to a better point-difference in their head-to-head meetings. L. Rytas won 89-74 last month in Lithuania. Jeremiah Massey had another monster game with 28 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks to lead Aris to victory. Darius Washington added a season-high 18 points and 4 assists, Savvas Iliadis 13 points, also a season-high, while Dimitrios Tsaldaris score 11 and Reyshawn Terry 10. Kenan Bajramovic led L. Rytas with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Jackson Vroman scored 13, Chuck Eidson 12 and Marijonas Petravicius returned to action after missing a month with a foot injury and recorded 6 points in 10 minutes.

Aris tried to control the tempo of the game early in the first quarter, but Lietuvos Rytas stole the ball twice to take a 5-8 lead. Giorgos Kalaitzis got early in foul trouble, however his replacement, Washington, pushed Aris to tie the game for the first time 10-10. Still L. Rytas was always a step ahead thanks to Eidson, whose mid-range jumper put his team in charge, 11-16, and forced Aris head coach Gordon Herbert into a timeout call with thee minutes to go. Nothing changed in the remaining minutes of the period as Vroman managed to keep his team ahead with a pair of easy lay ups. However, Massey netted a tip and Washington made free throws to cut the deficit at the end of the quarter to 18-19.

Petravicius came back to action after his injury and dunked the ball, but Massey stood up with a personal 5-point run to give the lead to the hosts for the first time in the game, 24-23. Iliadis added to his team’s difference by isolating Bajramovic twice and leaving no choice to visitors’ bench than asking for a timeout at 28-24, midway through the second quarter. The guests came back with a totally different lineup, but Washington, Iliadis and Washington drove to the basket to extend the margin close to 34-26. Bajramovic decided to wake his team up by firing from beyond the arc and Martynas Gecevicius soon copied him to bring his team closer to the hosts, 40-36, at halftime.

Massey was unstoppable early in the third quarter and extended his team’s margin with back-to-back layups. The guests couldn’t find their way to the basket for the first three minutes and Washington added to the hosts’ advantage with his first triple, 47-38. After a timeout call by L. Rytas head coach Aleksandar Trifunovic, the guests woke up and came back as Hollis Price took the team into his arms, igniting a decisive 7-point run capped by his second triple, 47-45, two minutes before the end of the quarter. However, Aris stayed in charge till the end of the quarter with Terry and Washington throwing down dunks and Tsaldaris beating the buzzer to gibe Aris a 57-48 lead.

Iliadis scored in transition to give his team a double-digit margin early in the third quarter, 59-48. Vroman reacted and cut the damage with some very smooth low post moves and Bajramovic drilled his team’s first triple of the last quarter to force Aris into a timeout call at 61-55. However, Aris showed different character in the next couple of minutes and managed to push the difference again in the double digits, 65-55, as Tsaldaris and Iliadis visited successfully the foul line three minutes before the final whistle. The hosts retained their margin due to Massey’s presence under the basket as Vroman was the only one fighting from L. Rytas. It was obvious that both teams were informed about Fener’s win and the death of their last hopes to make it to the playoffs saw the drama decrease as Aris dedicated the last Euroleague win to the fans.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Euroleague.net
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Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; CHAMBON, DAVID
Attendance: 2000
By Quarter1234
Aris TT Bank18221726
Lietuvos Rytas19171226
End of Quarter1234
Aris TT Bank18405783
Lietuvos Rytas19364874
Aris TT Bank
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 TERRY, REYSHAWN 29:45 10 4/8 0/1 2/2 2 4 6   2 3 1   4 5 12
9 KALAITZIS, GEORGIOS 6:41                   1     4   -5
10 ILIADIS, SAVVAS 28:23 13 5/8 0/2 3/4 1 2 3 3 3 2   1 1 5 17
11 BOISA, VLADIMER 20:46 3 0/1 1/2 0/2   1 1           1 1  
12 SKORDILIS, GAIOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 MOTTOLA, HANNO 7:29   0/1       1 1     1       1  
14 MASSEY, JEREMIAH 40:00 28 10/21 1/1 5/5 6 6 12   4 2 2 2 3 6 34
16 TSALDARIS, DIMITRIOS 32:25 11 2/4 1/3 4/4   2 2 3 1 1   1 3 2 10
18 KARADOLAMIS, DIMITRIOS 0:28                              
19 TSAIRELIS, MICHALIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 WASHINGTON, DARIUS 34:03 18 3/6 1/2 9/10 3 1 4 4 3 7 1   3 7 22
Team           3 3 6               6
Totals 200:00 83 24/49 4/11 23/27 15 20 35 10 13 17 4 4 19 27 96
        49% 36.4% 85.2%
Head coach: HERBERT, GORDON
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Lietuvos Rytas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 SLEZAS, ANDRIUS 7:06     0/2             1     1 1 -3
6 VROMAN, JACKSON 27:31 13 5/8   3/4 4 1 5 1 2 2 1   5 4 15
8 LUKAUSKIS, MINDAUGAS 18:34 4 0/3 0/2 4/5   3 3 1 1         3 6
10 PRICE, HOLLIS 30:32 9 2/3 1/4 2/2 1   1 3 2 4     5 2 4
12 ANISIMOV, MICHAILIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 EIDSON, CHUCK 27:55 12 3/9 1/3 3/5 2 1 3 4 3 4 1 2 4 3 6
15 PETRAVICIUS, MARIUS 10:04 6 3/4     1   1     2   1 4 1  
21 JOMANTAS, ARTURAS 16:37 7 3/4   1/1 2 4 6 2   2   1 4 3 10
25 JORDAN, JARED 11:00     0/2         1   1     2 1 -3
31 GECEVICIUS, MARTYNAS 15:51 9 3/3 1/1     2 2   3 3       1 12
41 BRAZDAUSKIS, LUKAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
51 BAJRAMOVIC, KENAN 34:50 14 4/9 2/7   3 7 10 2   3 2   2   13
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 74 23/43 5/21 13/17 15 20 35 14 11 22 4 4 27 19 64
        53.5% 23.8% 76.5%
Head coach: TRIFUNOVIC, ALEKSANDAR

Head Coaches

HERBERT, GORDON
Aris TT Bank
"To be honest, it was very difficult to qualify to the next round. We tried to play an up-tempo game but we didn't manage to do anything other than just grabbing this win. I am proud of my players as they fight for every ball today and dedicate the win to our fans. If we have played better in the first three games, we could have been in Fener's position in the playoffs."
TRIFUNOVIC, ALEKSANDAR
Lietuvos Rytas
"We didn’t manage to play tough defense. Aris managed to control the tempo of the game and took advantage of our turnovers to win this game. I feel that my players deserve a position among the eight best teams in the Euroleague, but some injuries in a crucial point of the season changed our rotations. I would like to congratulate everyone in my team and promise that we will be in the playoffs next year."

Players

WASHINGTON, DARIUS
Aris TT Bank
"I really enjoyed my first experience in the Euroleague. Itʼs a very tough competition and needs concentration in every game. We didn't manage to win at least one of our three first games and this is the main reason for our elimination. As for today's game, we played very aggressive especially in the second part of it and grabbed an important victory against a very talented opponent like Lietuvos Rytas, even though it was not enough to guarantee us a ticket for the next round."
GECEVICIUS, MARTYNAS
Lietuvos Rytas
"We couldn't stop Massey! He was really explosive under the basket and created big problems in our defense. All of us fought at every part of the game as we didn’t really know what was going on in the other game of our group. I really enjoyed Euroleague games this year and I am looking forward to playing again next year."
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