Rising Stars: Kronos Ag. Dimitriou – KAOH 67-82
In the first game of the second day of the Rising Stars Final 8, KAOH defeated Kronos Agios Dimitrios with 82-67 and will claim the fifth place in the tournament tomorrow against Peristeri.
A very important and great victory for the team of Halkidiki, which prevailed with 82-67 of Kronos Agios Dimitrios. Despite a very heavy loss to Prometheus, KAOH showed character and put on a very good performance that gave him the win.
On the other hand, Kronos showed quite “empty”, as yesterday (27/2) a very demanding game against Deka preceded, which was decided in the second overtime. This was evident as Vassilis Xiouras’ team was very inaccurate from the perimeter with a total of 4/28 three-pointers and 25/66 shots.
KAOH came into the game very strong scoring 27 points in the first quarter and 47 in the half. Good offensive partnerships and strong defenses came out to create a 20-point lead that remained constant for most of the game.
The difference reached eleven points in the middle of the fourth quarter with Kronos having the momentum, but four consecutive 3-pointers by Hatzis increased the difference again and left no room for the typically home team.
Now, KAOH will challenge for 5th place against Peristeri tomorrow, 1/3 at 11:45 at Promitheas Park. As for the team from Athens, they will play at 9:30 against Panathinaikos for 7th place.
Stavros Gymnopoulos of KAOH was the leading scorer of the game with 32 points (5/9 2-pointers, 5/17 3-pointers, 7/7 shots) plus 6 assists. Sotiris Hatzis followed with 24 (3/5 two-pointers, 6/14 three-pointers) and 17 rebounds and Stavros Zagas with 17 (6/10 two-pointers, 0/4 three-pointers, 5/7 shots).
From Kronos, Thodoris Karkoulias scored 13 points (6/8 two-pointers, 0/3 three-pointers, 1/2 shots). Kazazis, Solomou and Dimitrelos were also in double figures with 11, 11 and 10 points respectively.
In detail:
Kronos Ag. Dimitriou – KAOH 67-82
Ten minutes: 16-27, 28-47, 49-62, 67-82
Kronos Ag. Dimitriou (Xiouras): Bekas 8, Nikolakakos 2, Regan 2, Dimitrelos 10 (2), Solomou 11, Christofidellis, Taratoris, Kazazis 11 (1), Karkoulias 13, Zenonos 3 (1), Exarchopoulos 3, Marcelos 4
KAOH (Gymnopoulos): Hatzis 24 (6), Kostakis 2, Gymnopoulos 32 (5), Kyrioglou, Garoufallou, Zagas 17, Baxevanoglou 7, Panagiotopoulos, Tellidis, Gelashvili
The statements of players and coaches:
For Saint Demetrius Saturn:
Konstantinos Nikolakakos (Athlete): “Congratulations to KAOH. We performed as we wanted to yesterday, we gave everything and maybe we could win the game. In today’s match we didn’t perform as we should and we didn’t play according to the plan. We will forget what happened and try, because every game is special.”
Vassilis Xiouras (Coach): “I think we were unfocused, we didn’t follow the plan I had prepared before the match and mentally we were mainly elsewhere. Because of yesterday’s second overtime loss, I had prepared the guys that today they might look empty mentally and physically. But I think that this hard lesson, like yesterday, will be a lesson for the children on how to manage their emotions the next day as well.
That’s basketball, it has a lot of twists and turns and emotions change from one day to the next. In the match, we were second in personal duels, rebounds and 50/50 phases, where KAOH came out victorious.
This shows that you are not well physically and you are not 100% focused. I hope we learn this lesson and move on. As for tomorrow’s match, we want to be serious. For us, as a club, it is the first time that we participate in a final phase. The children have not faced such a process before, so this is all an important experience for them.”
For KAOH:
Grigoris Gelashvili (Athlete): “It’s a great honor to be in this tournament and we managed to win today against Kronos. We are also happy to improve on our image from yesterday, regardless of the result. We want to be combative and win every duel. We are focusing on tomorrow’s game and we want the victory.”
