The visitors erupted for 35 fourth-quarter points
Aris stuns Bourg, 88-91, on the road
Aris Midea Thessaloniki grabbed its second road victory of the 2024-25 BKT EuroCup season by edging Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse 88-91 at Ekinox on Wednesday. It was a tight affair from start to finish in France, with the visitors outscoring Bourg 30-35 in the fourth quarter to pull off the upset. With the win, the Greek side improved to 2-4, while Bourg dropped to 4-2.
Vassilis Toliopoulos led all scorers with 21 points, with Trey Woodbury scoring 14 and grabbing 8 rebounds. David De Julius and D' Moi Hodge had 11 points apiece and Landers Nolley added 10. For the hosts, Mehdy Ngouama netted 15 points, Adrian Nelson scored 12, Xavier Castaneda recorded 11 and Jean-Marc Pansa added 10.
Game Videos
The game started with an exchange of blows from inside, with 5 points from Woodbury and 4 from DeJulius allowing Aris to grab an 8-11 lead. Two Ngouama buckets were followed by a deep triple from Eleftherios Bochoridis before Pansa trimmed the deficit to 14-17. Then, Ngouama took his tally to 8 points thanks to a layup and two free throws before Pansa nailed another basket and Nelson sank a buzzer-beating put-back to put Bourg in front, 22-21, after 10 minutes.
A three-pointer off the glass from Hodge was followed by a hard-fought bucket from Nelson before Bochoridis nailed a triple for a 24-27 Aris lead. Maxime Courby and Nolley exchanged baskets in the paint before Kevin Kokila and Ngouama hit 2 free throws each to put Bourg back ahead, 34-31. Then, Castaneda opened his account with a midrange jumper, but Toliopoulos nailed one from downtown, cutting the difference to 38-36. Five points from Toliopoulos gave Aris back the lead, but Pansa netted from inside after a smooth team move for a 42-41 Bourg lead at the break.
The two teams were held scoreless for almost 2 minutes to start the third quarter before Woodbury gave Aris the lead with a dunk, 42-43. Toliopoulos nailed back-to-back triples, but Ngouama drilled one from deep to end Aris’s 0-8 run and bring the hosts within 45-49. Despite Bourg’s first field goal of the second half coming 5:31 minutes into the third quarter, the French side went on a 10-0 surge before a Toliopoulos three-pointer tied it, 52-52. Then, Pansa and De Julius netted 4 points each, with Joel Ayayi making 2 of 2 from the line for a narrow 58-56 lead heading into the closing quarter.
Ngouama opened the fourth with a layup before triples from Hodge and Toliopoulos sandwiched a Nelson three-pointer, with Bourg maintaining a 63-62 lead. Courby and De Julius exchanged triples before a three-point play from Kokila made it 69-65. Then, Castaneda responded to a Woodbury triple with one of his own, but Hodge nailed another one from deep to bring Aris within 76-75.
A Hodge layup put Aris ahead and Nolley extended Aris’s lead to 77-81 from inside. Yet, Bourg reacted, with Castaneda netting a long two-pointer and Maksim Salash completing a three-point play to put his team back in front 82-81 with 2:36 left on the clock. Toliopoulos responded to a Jordan Usher three-point play with a triple to put Aris ahead, 86-87, with 38 seconds remaining. An Usher layup gave Bourg back the lead, 88-87, but Nolley made 2 of 2 from the line to bring Aris back in front with 6.7 to go. Castaneda airballed an off-balance midrange jumper on the other end and the visitors clinched the victory.