Buducnost uses 20-1 start to down Aris

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica stayed in the race to reach the Eurocup Last 32 in Group D by downing Aris Thessaloniki 75-56 in the Montenegrin capital on Wednesday. Buducnost improved to 3-4 and ties with Banvit Bandirma for fourth place in thie group. Aris dropped to 4-3. Suad Sehovic led the winners with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Tadija Dragicevic and Nemanja Jaramaz each had 13 for Buducnost. Vassilis Symtsak led Aris with 12 points. Jake Cohen and Dominic Waters each had 11 for the guests. Dragicevic had 7 points in a 13-0 opening run, as Aris missed its opening 10 field goal attempts. A three-pointer by Bojan Subotic soon broke the game open, 20-1. Jake Cohen and Jerel McNeal stepped up for Aris, but Buducnost led 24-6 after 10 minutes and extended its margin to 46-16 soon after halftime. Aris got within 48-21 at the break. Symtsak and Theodoros Zaras allowed Aris to get within 65-53 late in the fourth quarter but Suad Sehovic struck from downtown to seal the outcome.

Buducnost got Dragicevic, its regular go-to guy, right away, and he had 7 points to which Omar Cook added a bomb from downtown to make Aris call timeout at 10-0. A three-point play by Sead Sehovic capped a 13-0 opening run, as Spyros Mourtos split free throws. Buducnost kept rolling and three-pointers by Suad Sehovic and Subotic broke the game open, 20-1. Cohen struck from downtown but Robert Rikic soon made it a 20-point game, 24-4. Free throws by Cohen got Aris within 24-6 after 10 minutes. Jerel McNeal hit foul shots early in the second quarter but Nemanja Jaramaz improved it with a three-pointer and Sead Sehovic added a layup-plus-foul for a 30-8 Buducnost lead. McNeal kept pacing Aris with a backdoor layup and a close basket by Cohen made the hosts call timeout at 31-12. Suad Sehovic and Jaramaz stepped up with consecutive baskets, igniting a 9-0 run which Dragicevic capped with a triple that gave Buducnost a 40-12 margin. Dominic Waters tried to change things with back-to-back baskets but Suad Sehovic did better with consecutive triples. Jamelle Hagins and Waters kept Aris within 48-21 at halftime.

Suad Sehovic buried a three-pointer immediately after the break and even when Waters stepped up with his own shot from downtown, Aleks Maric gave the hosts a 53-25 margin. Mourtos scored again and an off-balance turnaround jumper by Okaro White brought Aris within 54-29. Vassilis Symtsak shined with a put-back layup, as Buducnost struggled to score for the first time in the game. Omar Cook rescued the hosts with a three-point play, Vassilis Xanthopoulos and Jaramaz exchanged three-pointers and Zaras brought Aris within 61-37 after 30 minutes. Zaras scored again early in the fourth quarter and fed Cohen for a layup that brought Aris within 61-41. Symtsak took over with 6 unanswered points to get Aris as close as 61-47, after a 0-10 run. Buducnost went scoreless for almost 4 minutes until Dragicevic rescued the hosts with a put-back basket. Mourtos and Zaras kept pacing Aris and Symtsak added a put-back layup for a 65-53 Aris deficit with 3 minutes left. Free throws by Rikic and a three-pointer by Suad Sehovic sealed the outcome, 70-53, as Aris never recovered.