The Ukrainian powerhouse stifled Aris to advance to the quarterfinals.
High-scoring Prometey served up defensive masterpiece

Prometey Slobozhanske turned in one of its finest defensive showings at the best possible time to beat Aris Midea Thessaloniki 95-67 in their BKT EuroCup Eighthfinals duel. It was Prometey’s second-best defensive effort of the season, having held Wolves Vilnius to 64 points back in Round 15.
The hosts pulled away early to lead by 11 points after the first quarter and much of that difference came thanks to Prometey’s defense. It forced Aris into 6 first-quarter turnovers and capitalized on those to the tune of 14 points! Moreover, the pressure from the Prometey guards saw Aris shoot 1 for 8 from deep in the opening period.
“This is, for sure, with our defensive attitude one of the best [games of the season],” head coach Ronen Ginzburg said after the games and the numbers back him up.
Prometey forced 5 more turnovers in the second quarter and another 6 in the third before easing up in the final 10 minutes. Still Aris, committed 19 for the game, up from its 15.2 per game average from the regular season. The difference in points off turnovers was 25-10 for the game.
Great backcourt play made the difference
The home team guards limited Aris to 5-for-25 three-point shooting for the game, which was below the club’s regular season average for both makes (8.7 per game) and percentage (33.0%).
Ginzburg singled out the play of Ivan Tkachenko, who shined with a season-high 16 points, but that was not what impressed Ginzburg most: “Ivan did a great job on defense. He managed to stop their stars, so all due respect.”
That message was echoed by Ronald March, who paired 15 points with a game-high 7 assists.
"Ivan Tkachenko was, I think, the player of the game. He started off the game very physical with their best player and he set the tone for the rest of us," March said. "I feel like we just followed suit on defense. Everybody came with their hard hat today and just performed."
On the other end, Prometey was hot from deep, making half of its 20 three-point tries. Tkachenko was 2 for 3 on triples, March shot 3 for 5 and Gian Clavell 3 for 6. Those three and Caleb Agada combined for 63 points, 14 assists, 5 steals and 8 turnovers. Agada scored 11 of his 16 points in the first quarter and Clavell had all of his 16 by halftime.
The four Aris guards who played the most – Vassilis Toliopoulos, Eleftherios Bochoridis, Jonathan Stark and Dimitris Katsivelis – combined for 25 points, 9 assists, 2 steals and 6 turnovers.