The German side thoroughly impressed on its home floor
Hamburg runs past Aris, 93-69
Veolia Hamburg Towers led from start to finish en route to registering their second win of the season, downing the depleted Aris Midea Thessaloniki 93-69 on Tuesday night. Both teams now hold 2-6 records in Group B. Hamburg had a 10-point lead already in the first quarter and extended it to 47-26 in the second. Aris never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Brae Ivey paced Hamburg with 15 points, Keondre Kennedy netted 14, while Zsombor Maronka and Kenneth Ogbe scored 12 apiece. Kur Kuath had 6 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks in the winning effort. Vassilis Toliopoulos netted 31 points on 6-for-18 three-point shooting and D'Moi Hodge bagged 15 in a losing effort.
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Hamburg got it going right out of the gates with big dunks from Kuath and Jordan Barnett, the latter also adding a three-point play to make it 9-2. Ivey followed with 5 points, including a triple that opened a 14-4 lead. Joshua Roberts scored in traffic for the visitors and Toliopoulos scored 6 points before the end of the quarter, but not before baskets from Maronka and Osaro Rich secured Hamburg's 24-14 lead after 10 minutes.
Hodge had a fastbreak layup and the visitors' first three-pointer to keep the margin at 31-21, but Patrick Heckmann's steal and layup sparked a 7-0 run, capped by Jaizec Lottie, making it 38-21. Vasillis Kazamias and Kennedy traded triples, and Maronka's basket broke the 20-point margin, 47-26. Toliopoulos had a triple and a three-point play to cut to 51-33, and after Kennedy nailed another three for the hosts, a thee from Hodge made it 54-38 at halftime.
Baskets were few and far between to start the second half, with a triple from Ivey and a tip-in from Aris's James Banks the only field goals in the first 3 minutes. Hodge and Maronka traded three-pointers and Aris was not going away as Emmanouil Chatzidakis had a three-point play and Toliopoulos a triple that cut it to 64-49, but Maronka and Kennedy nailed back-to-back triples to open a 70-49 margin. Hodge had another three-pointer, his fourth, and Toliopoulos knocked down his third and fourth, cutting it to 72-59 after 30 minutes.
Hamburg had a strong start to the fourth quarter. A runner from Osaro Rich, a triple from Ivey, and Kuath's fifth blocked shot all fueled a 7-0 run, capped by a driving layup from Ogbe, for a 79-59 margin. But Toliopoulos scored the next 8 points - a pair of triples with a floater in between - that got Aris within 81-69. However, Aris did not score the rest of the way, the final 5:57 of the contest, as Hamburg finished the game on an 11-0 run.