By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
AEK fell behind, 55-45, early in the third period but recovered for the 90-86 win over Telekom Baskets Bonn on Tuesday evening. The “W” at the Telekom Dome advances the Queen to the Basketball Champions League quarterfinals.
Marcus Slaughter grabbed his fifth offensive rebound and followed up with a clutch bucket for a five-point lead entering the final minute of the exciting Round of 16 Game 2 affair. The San Diego State alumni made his way to 17 points and nine boards earning a game-high 22 efficiency rating.
Keith Langford shot 8/16 from the field en route for his game-high 25 points. Vlado Jankovic got off to a hot start for 13 points. Nikos Gkikas followed with eight points including a couple of key threes despite playing only nine minutes due to foul trouble.
“Different guys stepped up in different moments. We really have a collective effort this season,” said Langford following the match that was played behind closed doors, “Nikos Gkikas was huge tonight.”
Similar to Game 1, Will Voigt’s team failed to hold on and build on its strong spurts. Trey McKinney-Jones scored a team-high 18 points but was not enough. Donald Sloan threw in 14 points of his own and Martin Breunig 12.
“Their physicality caused us some turnovers, we had 19. They had 13 offensive rebounds,” took out Benjamin Simons after his eight points, “The game played out how we figured it would, but we just did not quite make enough plays, in the end, to come away with the win.”
AEK is through to the quarterfinals for the third straight season. Up next ERA Nymburk that will have the home-court advantage in the best-of-three quarterfinals series.
“We have to prepare the team for the next round,” mentioned head coach Ilias Papatheodorou, added on Mario Chalmers picking up an injury late in the fourth quarter and Kendrick Ray limited due to stomach illness, “I hope we are healthy for the rest of the season.”
Postgame press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League