By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
AEK supporters will forever remember Kevin Punter’s 3-pointer on Wednesday night that gave the Greek club a 93-82 victory in the second leg of the Round of 16 tie at CEZ Nymburk.
The basket gave the visitors a 1-point win on aggregate and clinched a spot in the Quarter-Finals. Something else the fans of this great club will cherish, however, will be the 36-point explosion in that same game by Manny Harris.
Yes, the man that was the Gameday 14 MVP when AEK sealed a spot in the Play-Offs with a victory at medi Bayreuth took his game to new heights in Nymburk and did so with a lot riding on it for his club. Winners of the Greek Cup already this season, AEK are also desperate for a European trophy.
They would have fallen by the wayside in the Basketball Champions League, though, had “Big Game Manny”, or “Man-ny of the Moment” not traveled to the Czech Republic.
He not only traveled for the second leg, he ended up owning it. Harris drilled 12 of 22 shots from the floor and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line. The native of Detroit, Michigan, who had 25 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals in the first leg, a 98-88 CEZ Nymburk win, has been named as the Round of 16 MVP.
Harris appreciates the accolades, yet he likes the victories even more.”We just stayed in there,” he said.
“It wasn’t our best game, but we fought to the end. We had a great strategy and everybody just stayed with it for the whole 40 minutes of the game.”
Next up will be SIG Strasbourg, a team that survived its own drama over two legs against Neptunas Klaipeda. The French club won the second leg at home after overtime. Strasbourg are not strangers to AEK.
Source: Basketball Champions League