German side BG Goettingen laid down the law early on its home court, cruising on Wednesday to an easy 74-55 victory over visiting Aris in Group J of the Eurocup’s Last 16.

The victory pushed Goettingen’s record to 3-1, tied for first place with Budivelnik.

Both teams are very close to qualifying for the quarterfinals, while Aris fell to 1-3, alongside Le Mans, in the debut of new head coach Lefteris Subotic.

A 13-0 blast-off to start the game established double-digit leads that Goettingen did not give up the rest of the way.

Dwayne Anderson led four Goettingen scorers in double digits with 18 points. Louis Dale followed with 16, while Mike Scott and Jason Boone added 14 each, the latter snaring 11 rebounds additionally.

Aris managed to put only one scorer in double digits, Anthony Tucker, with 17 points.

Subotic, Aris’ new coach, said his side was rattled after an inaccurate opening.

“I think we lost this game from the moment when we missed our first five shots. This caused stress and insecurity and that is why we only scored 20 points in the first half. I don’t know all about the team yet. In the second half we tried everything we could. I think Goettingen scored about 15 points in the final two seconds of their respective ball possessions.

“Despite the loss, I am proud the team kept fighting even with the big point difference.”

Panellinios lose to Benetton away

Meanwhile, against Greece’s other Final 16 representative, Italian side Benetton took another step to reach the Eurocup quarterfinals in Group L by topping Panellinios 82-72 in Treviso, Italy on Tuesday.

Benetton improved to 3-1 and will reach the next round along with already qualified Cajasol Sevilla (4-0) if it beats Alba (1-3) in Berlin next week.

Panellinios dropped to 0-4 and is now mathematically ruled out of any quarterfinals possibilities.

Devin Smith paced the winners with 24 points against his former team. Alessandro Gentile added 12 while Donatas Motiejunas and Stefan Markovic each had 11 for Benetton. Maurice Bailey led Benetton with 16 points.

Vangelis Sklavos and Djuro Ostojic each added 13, while Steven Smith had 10 for the guests that trailed 40-34 at halftime but used an 0-8 run to get a 58-60 edge late in the fourth quarter.

Free throws by Bailey gave Panellinios its last lead, 66-67, as Smith, Motiejunas and Gentile shined in crunch time to make Benetton seal a very important home win.

Panellinios coach Athanasios Skourtopoulos said after the game, “we needed to defeat Benetton Bwin to stay alive in the Eurocup, but tonight was very difficult.

“Benetton believed in victory and looked to go on in the competition. I saw very different situations in the game, in the last quarter we were not very lucky.

“In the last part of the game Benetton Bwin was hungrier. I searched for better pace with the rotations, with young guys that don’t have the experience for this competition.

“Now our priority is the Greek League.”