With their third road win at a key moment, the visitors kept above the cut-off line for the playoffs in Round 12.
Aris gets pivotal road win, 85-95, in Ankara



In an important game in the Group B playoffs race, Aris Midea Thessaloniki downed Turk Telekom Ankara 85-95 in the Turkish capital on Tuesday. Aris improved to 5-7 and has a 2-0 record against Turk Telekom, which dropped to 3-9. Vassilis Toliopoulos paced the winners with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists. Jonathan Stark added 18 points, Roberto Gallinat and Roberts Blumbergs 12 each, and Ronnie Harrell 10 for Aris. Tyrone Wallace led Turk Telekom with 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Okben Ulubay added 15 points, Steven Enoch 12 and James Palmer 10.
Toliopoulos put Aris ahead
Blumbergs and Toliopoulos got Aris going early with 5 points apiece before Harrell struck from downtown to make Turk Telekom call timeout at 6-13. Kris Bankston followed a dunk with an alley-oop slam for the visitors, then Toliopoulos scored from beyond the arc for a 12-20 Aris lead. Enoch and Ulubay fueled a 9-2 run that got Turk Telekom within 21-22 before Lefteris Bochoridis's layup restored a 21-24 Aris lead after 10 minutes.
Wallace kept Turk Telekom close
Palmer hit a jumper and Wallace added a triple for Turk Telekom to forge a 26-26 tie early in the second quarter. Gallinat followed a three-pointer with a layup for Aris, but an unstoppable Wallace dunked and hit from deep to complete the hosts' comeback, 33-32. Harrell and Silvio de Sousa helped Aris regain a 35-39 lead. Wallace, Blumbergs and Boran Guler each hit a three-pointer, then Bochoridis hit another late layup to fix the halftime score at 41-46.
Game Videos
Stark stepped up
Toliopoulos bettered Enoch's layup with a triple for a 43-49 Aris lead soon after the break. He got help from Gallinat and de Sousa to boost the guests' margin to 47-56. Enoch kept pacing Turk Telekom and Wallace's driving basket got the crowd involved at 53-56. Aris found a new go-to guy in Stark, who followed a close basket with a jumper and soon added a three-pointer to keep his team in charge, 59-66, after 30 minutes.
Aris took off, sealed it
Gallinat's corner triple made it a double-digit game, 59-69, early in the fourth quarter. Wallace tried to change things for Turk Telekom but Stark scored again and Nikos Persidis banked in a three-pointer for a 62-74 Aris lead with 7 minutes left. Toliopoulos followed a jumper with a floater to break the game open, 62-78. Stark and Toliopoulos made sure Aris kept full control of the game until the final buzzer.