The second match day of the Eurocup saw Greece’s three representatives win two out of three games, with Aris and Panellinios registering wins, while PAOK lost again at home.

It’s a big win for us and we’ll try to stay perfect next week as well.

It was a battle of the two undefeated sides as Aris took on Hapoel Gilboa/Galil in Israel, with the Macedonian side taking out the Group D fixture 83-92.

Aris registered its first road win and improved to 2-0 to lead the Group D standings while Gilboa/Galil dropped to 1-1.
PJ Tucker and Christos Tapoutos led the winners with 24 points apiece.

Tucker added 10 rebounds for a double-double while Tapoutos sank 9-of-12 two-pointers and 2-of-2 triples.

Nikos Hatzivrettas added 19 points for Aris.
Jack McClinton led Gilboa/Galil with 20 points.

Warren Carter added 14, Leo Lyons had 13 while Rodney Green and Gal Mekel each had 10 for the hosts, that rallied from a double-digit deficit to get a 68-63 edge early in the fourth quarter.

Tapoutos and Tucker stepped up for Aris and the guests found a go-to guy in Hatzivrettas, who downed two critical triples and added a key basket in crunch time to lead the guests to a pivotal, well-deserved win.

Aris forward Anthony Tucker said, “Our comeback shows the strength of our team. Galil made some amazing shots, and took the lead in the fourth quarter and that’s very expected because usually home teams make runs at some point, but we really stayed together and got a lot of players that can step up.

“It’s a big win for us and we’ll try to stay perfect next week as well.”

Panellinios meanwhile won its Eurocup home opener by outlasting GasTerra Flames 68-51 on Tuesday.

The score was tied 26-26 at halftime and the Dutch Flames were within 3 midway through the third quarter before a 14-1 charge bridging the third and fourth quarters lifted the hosts for good.

Maurice Bailey led the winners with 15 points, Samo Udrih scored 11 and Manolis Papamakarios 10 as Panellinios improved to 1-1 before visiting undefeated group leader Galatasaray next week.
Greec

Greece’s other representative PAOK went down at home to highly fancied Benetton Basket Bwin, who kept its perfect Group F record intact.

The Italian side defeated PAOK 62-67 in Thessalonica.
PAOK is winless along with Chorale Roanne of France.

A 2-15 run in the second quarter gave Benetton the first of many double-digit leads that PAOK could never quite erase, despite coming as close as 51-54 early in the final quarter.

Benetton’s defence then decided what had been a defensive struggle much of the night. Veteran centre Lazaros Papadopoulos had a massive double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds for PAOK.
J

ustin Gray followed him with 13 points and Roberto Dozier added 10.
Totals of 18 turnovers and just 4 assists hurt PAOK, however, despite the fact it scored more free throws and three-pointers than Benetton.