By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
ATHENS – Keeping players fresh, AEK booked a final spot in the Basketball Champions League Final Eight thanks to the win, 99-75, versus Casademont Zaragoza Friday. Another Spanish team, Hereda San Pablo Burgos gets the Queen in Sunday’s championship tilt.
Tyrese Rice banked 18 points sinking 7/9 field goals. Keith Langford after being named 2019-20 season MVP also scored 18 points. Overall 57% field-goal shooting including 13/28 threes powered the dominating Yellow-Blacks showing.
“From the very beginning, everybody was focused,” mentioned Matt Lojeski after posting 11 points over only 6:26, “Everybody contributed.”
Similar to Thursday’s quarterfinal against ERA Nymburk, head coach Ilias Papatheodorou balanced playing time between starters and the deep bench. No player went over 23 minutes.
A one-sided affair got off to a 12-0 start for the Queen. Zaragoza failed to recover and will complete its Greece visit facing JDA Dijon for third place Sunday. D. J. Seeley got 18 points and Nicolas Brussino 15 in losing effort.
“We were never in the game. They put the physical bar very high,” admitted captain Rodrigo San Miguel, “We were never able to match them.”
The Greek club, Final Eight host, hopes to repeat 2018 success in the same venue, Athens’ OAKA, capturing its second BCL title. The list of previous winners stretches to Virtus Bologna (2019) and Tenerife (2017).
Watch the post-game press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League