Umoja Gibson and Aleksej Nikolic shined bright in Thessaloniki
Cedevita Olimpija returns to winning ways, claims convincing win over Aris
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 12 of 18
Regular Season
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Aris Thessaloniki BetssonARI
6089
Cedevita Olimpija LjubljanaCOL
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Overview
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“Another in a series of very demanding EuroCup games is ahead of us,” Zvezdan Mitrovic said ahead of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana’s visit to Aris Thessaloniki Betsson on Tuesday night. “I expect a very demanding game in a hot atmosphere, the kind that home fans know how to create.”
The atmosphere delivered. Aris did not.
Cedevita controlled the game from start to finish, silencing the crowd at Palais des Sports with a dominant 60–89 road victory.
Both teams opened with intensity, applying pressure on defense and keeping the score low early. But once Cedevita settled, Mitrovic’s side began to pull away. The visitors built a double-digit lead in the second quarter and went into halftime up 13, with Aris heading to the locker room to a chorus of boos.
The game unraveled completely for the home side after the break. Cedevita moved the ball crisply, defended with discipline and quickly stretched the margin to 20. Aris endured a brutal six-minute scoring drought in the third quarter, effectively ending the contest. By the final buzzer, Cedevita had secured a 29-point win.
The victory lifts Cedevita to 8–4, snapping a two-game losing streak and pulling it level for second place with next week’s EuroCup opponent, Bahcesehir College Istanbul. After reasserting itself in emphatic fashion, the Slovenians will look to build momentum as the season gathers pace.
American guard Umoja Gibson said the team continues to draw motivation from being overlooked.
“We feel like we’re the underdogs – nobody expected us to have a season like this,” Gibson said. “We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing, playing together, playing as one and keep fighting.”
Gibson delivered a strong all-around performance with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Aleksej Nikolic led all scorers with 23 points, adding 3 rebounds and 4 assists, while DJ Stewart chipped in 11.
The stat sheet tells a clear story. Cedevita dominated the glass, outrebounding Aris 46–26. Nikos Chougkaz led all players with 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to stem the tide.
Despite the lopsided result, the home crowd continued singing until the final seconds. The issues, however, were familiar. In the teams’ previous meeting, Aris managed just 59 points, avoiding an even worse outcome only with a late three-pointer. Head coach Igor Milicic again pointed to the physicality of the opposition.
“Very difficult night,” Milicic said. “They showed us how to play with energy, how to play with contact, how to play with poise. Every one of their players gave them something. It’s not that we didn’t want it – my players tried hard – but we have to put ourselves in a position where we can compete with this level of physicality.”
The loss drops Aris to 6–6, with a quick turnaround ahead of next Tuesday’s matchup against BAXI Manresa.
