2006-07Regular SeasonRound 3
November 14, 2006 CET: 19:15
Local time: 20:15 PAOK SPORTS ARENA

PAOK Thessaloniki had a solid night on Tuesday as it defeated Dexia Mons-Hainaut at home by 83-69 in a Group D duel to take its first win of the season. A good first quarter by the hosts allowed them to pull away by 23-14, and from that point on, they managed the lead until the final 14 points. Thanks to the win, PAOK improves to 1-2 in the group, while Mons drops to the same record. Blagota Sekulic led all scorers in the game with 27 points and added 11 rebounds for a big double-double. Drago Pasalic added 19 points, Jerome Allen 14 and Vlado Scepanovic 13 for PAOK. For Mons, which was hurt by 5-for-21 three-point shooting, Week 2 MVP Kevin Houston led the way with 23 points and George Evans had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Allen opened the scoring with a triple that was soon copied by Houston for Mons. Sekulic put in back-to-back layups and Scepanovic fired beyond the arc to give POAK fresh air at 12-5. Even though Evans cut the distance by scoring his first points, a Mons timeout changed when the players came back to the court, as Sekulic dominated under the glss to push the difference for the first time into double digits, 18-8. PAOK kept extending the margin to 23-14 after 10 minutes, but the visitors bridged the quarters with a six-point run capped by Bertengeh Nicholson's dunk. Allen increased PAOK's advantage and was copied soon by Sekulic, whose dunk broke the Mons basket and forged a 15-minute delay early in the second quarter, with the hosts ahead 27-20. PAOK came back and extended the margin to double digits again in the middle of the second quarter, 34-21. Jim Potter netted a mid-range jumper and Evans dunked trying to wake up Mons, but the duo of Pasalic and Sekulic contributed back-to-back high-low plays, sending their team ahead by 43-30 headed into the lockers.

The guests showed up with a different attitude after the break, as Shwanta Rogers led a 0-6 run that drew Mons as close as 43-36. Pasalic and Allen tried to protect PAOK's lead but Houston found the way to the basket with both a triple and a pair of free throws to make it 50-41. The hosts remained scoreless for a couple of minutes and Houston was unstoppable, pulling Mons even closer, at 50-47, in the middle of the quarter. Scepanovic and Pasalic came to the rescue for PAOK, hitting shots from the arc before the third quarter ended with the hosts up 59-48. As PAOK tried to slow the tempo, Houston and Evans made a last push for Mons, but Pasalic was ready to answer with another triple and Sekulic dunked to keep PAOK's advantage healthy at 71-61. By the time Allen stole the ball twice to finish fastbreaks and Pasalic fired a final time from the arc, PAOK's fans could start celebrating their team's first victory of the ULEB Cup season.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Christos Lazarou, Thessaloniki
No results found.
Referees: ARTEAGA, JUAN CARLOS; ZIEMBLICKI, GRZEGORZ; PEREZ, EMILIO
Attendance: 1000
By Quarter1234
PAOK23201624
Dexia Mons14161821
End of Quarter1234
PAOK23435983
Dexia Mons14304869
PAOK
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ALLEN, JEROME 36:00 14 1/2 3/7 3/3 1 2 3 5   2     2 3 16
5 MANOLOPOULOS, SOTIRIOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6 VERGINIS, DIMITRIOS 9:00 2 1/1 0/2         1 1           2
7 SCEPANOVIC, VLADO 35:00 13 1/1 3/4 2/2   3 3 5   3     3 2 16
8 SEKULIC, BLAGOTA 37:00 27 9/12 2/3 3/6 3 8 11 1   3 3 1 1 4 34
9 HARITOPOULOS, DIMITRIOS 2:00                              
10 KALAMPOKIS, GIANNIS 26:45   0/2 0/1     2 2 2 1 3     2 4 1
11 TOMAS, IVAN 13:15 4 2/2 0/2         1 1 3   1 2   -2
14 AGADAKOS, LAZAROS 10:45 4 2/4     2 2 4   1 1     3 2 5
15 PASALIC, DRAGO 30:15 19 5/7 2/4 3/4 4 4 8     3 1   5 4 19
16 VASILEIOU, IOANNIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
17 GIANNOPOULOS, CHARIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 83 21/31 10/23 11/15 10 23 33 15 4 18 4 2 18 19 93
        67.7% 43.5% 73.3%
Head coach: PILAFIDIS, KONSTANTINOS
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
Dexia Mons
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 MAJOR, GERRIT 11:15   0/1               3   1 3   -8
5 MACK, MONTY 24:00 4 2/4 0/3     1 1 4 1       2   3
6 DESAEVER, MATHIAS 14:00 4 2/5 0/1   3   3 1 1     1 3   1
7 HOUSTON, KEVIN 36:00 23 3/6 3/4 8/8 1 5 6 3 2 5     4 7 28
8 EVANS, GEORGE 40:00 15 5/8   5/8 6 4 10 4 4 1 2 1 2 6 31
9 BAUWENS, THOMAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 ROGERS, SHAWNTA 28:45 9 2/3 1/7 2/2 1   1 2 2 3   1 1 2 4
11 MARKOVIC, DRAGAN 6:15   0/1                         -1
12 NDOYE, MOUSTAPHA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 MARNEGRAVE, NIELS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 POTTER, JIM 29:15 6 1/4 1/6 1/2 1   1 1 2       4 3  
15 NICHOLSON, YEMI 10:30 8 4/6                         6
Team           1 3 4               4
Totals 200:00 69 19/38 5/21 16/20 13 13 26 15 12 12 2 4 19 18 68
        50% 23.8% 80%
Head coach: BAVCEVIC, NIKSA
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PILAFIDIS, KONSTANTINOS
PAOK
"I feel really happy for our first win in the regular season. In the first half, we had no problems to create an early margin facing a man to man defense whereas in the second quarter their zone seemed more effective as we had no big clues about their playing style before the game. When we adjusted to their zone defense, we had the chance to create some easy shots and win the game, even though the team is changing players every day."
BAVCEVIC, NIKSA
Dexia Mons
"I was very angry with my players in the first half. We showed a lot of respect for PAOK and had no belief to win the game. As we are a professional team, we improved our wrong rhythm in the second part of the game and we tried to switch our defense into box and one. At that time we managed to cut the damage but the big guys of PAOK created easy shots for the backcourt punishing us from the 6,25 line. If we played in the whole game with second half's tempo, we may have had chances to win the game but PAOK, a traditional team, proved today that they are a class above Mons."

Players

SEKULIC, BLAGOTA
PAOK
"It's really important to take the first win in the ULEB Cup. Unfortunately, we lost against Crvena Zvezda at home but today we showed our improvement as a team. Our target is to ensure our qualification as soon as possible and this win could be crucial to gain confidence for the future and work a lot to find our chemistry as PAOK is a team full of new players."
POTTER, JIM
Dexia Mons
"Congratulations to PAOK for this win. It was a really tough game for us. The hosts executed very well during the whole game and it was really difficult to stop players like Sekulic or Pasalic. In the second half, we tried to open the game but we understood that it was far from as easy task to win in Thessaloniki. I hope to have a better game in Belgium."
No results found.