Vassilis Toliopoulos led all scorers with 21 points after going 6-for-9 from deep
Aris 'warriors' fired on all cylinders at Bourg
Named after Ares, the Greek god of war and courage, Aris Midea Thessaloniki took to the Ekinox court on Wednesday with a warrior mentality that allowed it to produce an upset against the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup runner up, Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse. Despite coming into the duel with a record of 1-4, having lost all its three home games so far, Aris played with extraordinary confidence on offense to down Bourg.
After the game, Coach Ioannis Kastritis hailed his "warriors" for edging past the extremely talented French side, who had lost just one of their first five games.
"Our guys showed great quality today, especially on the offensive end," Kastritis said. "It’s never easy playing here against a very physical and aggressive team like Bourg, but, on the other hand, we are a team full of warriors."
Game Videos
In a tight, back-and-forth affair, Aris didn’t allow Bourg to pull away at any point, with the hosts highest lead being 5 points (38-33, with 3:37 in the third quarter). The Greek side trailed by 58-56 heading into the last quarter, when they netted 35 points to down Bourg. Aris ended the game shooting 15-for-33 (45.5%) from beyond the arc, with 6 of these triples coming in the fourth quarter.
An extraordinary Vassilis Toliopoulos led all scorers with 21 points after going 6-for-9 from deep. The last time in the competition that the Aris guard was on fire was away at 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys in Round 3, where his team also netted over 90 points to grab their first and only win of the season until Wednesday. Toliopoulos finished that game on 26 points, having gone 6-for-8 from beyond the arc.
"It’s a great win against an amazing team,” Toliopoulos noted. “They are runners-up of last year’s EuroCup. From the first day the coach said that we never give up, we never stop playing even if we’re trailing by 20 or 30 points. We keep playing and that’s how we’ll succeed."
Having struggled in its bid to protect its home court this season, Aris may draw confidence from this morale-boosting win at Bourg. Its next game against an unbeaten Valencia Basket (5-0) will be anything but easy, but Kastritis’s warriors demonstrated on Wednesday that they have what it takes to beat a EuroCup powerhouse.