It was the second time this season that Quinn Ellis scored the game-winner for Trento.
Ellis gives Trento last-gasp 69-67 win over Aris
Dolomiti Energia Trento boosted its BKT EuroCup Playoffs hopes with a 69-67 victory over Aris Midea Thessaloniki thanks to a game-winning layup by Quinn Ellis in the final second. The victory kept Trento in the all-important top six with a 4-5 record, while Aris dropped to 3-6.
A low-scoring first half was perfectly poised at the break, 32-32, before Trento pulled away in the third quarter. Aris roared back but Ellis had the final word with a driving layup. Kamar Baldwin paced the winning team with 15 points, while Ellis, Andrejs Grazulis and Prentiss Hubb all scored 10. Ronnie Harrell was Aris’s hero with 24 points including 12 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.
An evenly balanced opening stanza
Aris netted the first 4 points as Trento failed to score in the opening 3 minutes, but the hosts responded with a 7-0 run, including 5 points from Hubb, to take the lead. Both teams struggled to score during the middle of the opening period before Lefterios Bochoridis and Ellis traded tough inside baskets, then Harrell and Baldwin swapped three-pointers to make it 17-17 at the end of the first.
A three-pointer from Grazulis sparked a 7-0 run early in the second period, giving Trento a 24-19 lead. Aris hit straight back as Harrell scored twice inside during a 2-8 run, moving ahead 26-27. Baskets were evenly traded, including a triple for Bochoridis, to keep it close, and the first half ended with a floater from Georgios Fillios and a close-range finish by Mattia Udom to make it 32-32.
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Baldwin helps the hosts pull away
Baldwin’s three-pointer and two scores from Paul Biligha contributed to a 7-0 run at the start of the second half, before Grazulis and Baldwin both struck from deep in an 8-0 run, stretching Trento’s lead to 47-34. Harrell’s three-pointer helped pull Aris a little closer, but Hubb scored twice to help protect a double-digit margin at the end of the third, 53-43.
Aris comes back, but Ellis laughs last
Luca Conti’s three-point play early in the fourth saw Trento starting to look comfortable, 58-43. Dimitris Katsivelis ended Aris’s 6-minute drought, but Baldwin and Cooke initially kept Trento comfortable. Katsivelis and Conti traded triples before Harrell exploded with 10 points in a 0-12 run to give Aris fresh hope. It was 67-65 when Aris had the final possession and Harrell was fouled in the act of shooting a triple, and he made 2 of 3 before Ellis drove to the basket to win it.