By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Lavrio Megabolt punched in its ticket to the Basketball Champions League Play-In Round, overcoming Unicaja, 70-58, at Peace and Friendship Stadium Tuesday.
Tyson Carter, expected to soon join Zenit Saint Petersburg, threw in a game-high 19 points. Dimitris Kaklamanakis contributed 18 points. Vassilis Mouratos had 15 points. Al-Wajid Aminu followed with seven points and 11 rebounds to his name.
The Greek team, 5-6 in the domestic Stoiximan Basket League, shifted once again to the usual home of Olympiacos in the Champions League. The hosts were in control leading in double-digits from the second quarter and went all the way up to a margin of 21 points during the Regular Season Gameday 6 fixture.
Dario Brizuela scored 15 points for the visiting team coached by Greek play-caller Fotis Katsikaris. Jaime Fernandez ended up with 12 points and Michael Eric recorded ten points. Tim Abromaitis paired his seven points with eight rebounds.
The team coached by Christos Serelis improved to 3-3 in Group C and will move on to the Play-Ins minus Carter. The second-placed team of Group D, Falco Szombathely or NutriBullet Treviso, will get the home-court advantage in the best-of-three series scheduled to start in January to award the surviving side a last-minute spot in the Round of 16.
Sitting on a 6-8 record in Spain’s ACB, Unicaja finishing the BCL Regular Season at 4-2 was already placed in Group K of the next round. A fresh new double-legged round-robin six-game schedule will determine the two teams progressing to the Quarterfinals.
Postgame press conference:
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League