Aris BSA 2003 Thessaloniki recorded an important 77-82 road win over Azovmash Mariupol Tuesday to advance to the Last 16 from Group D. A 0-9 run gave Aris a 22-30 margin early in the second quarter and it never trailed again. Demetrius Alexander led the hosts back within 42-43 early in the third quarter only to see Aris respond with a 4-16 charge to take a double-digit lead. P.J. Tucker and Bryant Dunston boosted Aris early in the final quarter to go ahead 56-71. The hosts never gave up and climbed within 77-80 with seconds remaining in the game, but Kostas Charalampidis was perfect from the foul line to seal the win. Tucker led the winners with 18 points and a perfect 4 of 4 from beyond the arc, Christos Tapouots added 14 points, Charalampidis 13 and Dunston and Nikos Hatzivrettas had 11 apiece. Charles Thomas paced Azovmash with 15 points, while Maksym Pustozvonov, Chris Owens and Fred house chipped in 11 each.

Alexander gave an early 5-2 lead to the hosts. Dunston tied the score at 7-7 before giving Aris its first lead at 9-11. Tapoutos boosted Aris to an 11-16 margin, but Owens with an astonishing dunk capped an 8-0 Azovmash run that put them in front 19-16. Back-to-back three pointers from Bobby Brown and Tapoutos changed the lead again, fixing the score at 22-24 at the end of the first quarter. Charalampidis hit a jumper extending the difference to 22-30. Azovmash countered as Thomas slammed the ball three times to get to 28-31 at the midway point of the quarter. Four free throws and a rocket from long distance by Charalampidis made it 33-41. House excited the crowd with a fastbreak dunk copied few second later by Owens to cut the margin to 39-43 as the first half finished.

Alexander opened the third quarter scoring from long distance to make it 42-43. Hatzivrettas and his jumper pushed Aris to 44-52. Then Tucker posted 5 points in a row to get a 46-59 margin. Pustozvonov hit a mid-range jumper to cut the gap to 10, but Hatzivrettas was hot from downtown. Owens scored underneath finishing the third quarter on 54-65. Tucker pulled down an offensive rebound and scored to make it 56-69 and then Dunston put on a personal show by blocking a Thomas shot and running the court to finish the break with a dunk and a 56-71 scoreline. The hosts did not give up and Oleksandr Skutyelnik from downtown tried to keep his side going, cutting the deficit to 65-73. Tucker again rejected the hosts’ attempt to come back, but Ramel Curry went all the way to cut the deficit to 69-76 with less than three minutes remaining. A three-pointer from House put Azovmash back in the game at 77-80, setting up a thrilling finale. However Charalampidis sealed the win from the foul line before House missed a three-pointer on the final possession.