In beating Lietkabelis, the American’s team stayed alive in the playoff race
Trey Woodbury came to the fore on an important night for Aris
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3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 12 of 18
Group B
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With Aris Midea Thessaloniki still missing star guard Vassilis Toliopoulos due to injury, it needed somebody to step up and address its slide in the BKT EuroCup. Coming into Tuesday night’s Round 12 clash against 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys, Aris had lost five straight and failed to win at home all season long. Fortunately for coach Ioannis Kastritis, he could count on first-year guard Trey Woodbury.
The 25-year-old set the tone early by scoring Aris’s first 5 points to give the hosts a 5-4 lead, before adding another 6 points in the final 4:11 minutes of the first quarter to move to 11 points personal. Lietkabelis, however, finished the first quarter with a slender 18-19 advantage.
While he netted just 2 points in the second quarter, with the score 32-34 at the break, Woodbury scored the opening basket of the second half and sparked a 7-0 run that put the wind back in Aris’s sails. He was also very active on the glass, grabbing 6 first-half rebounds, and he entered the fourth period with a stat line of 17 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist.
In the end, it was Woodbury who helped put the game to bed in the final frame. After making it 67-70 to Aris with a layup halfway through the quarter, he appeared again shortly after by knocking down back-to-back threes to move the score to 75-62 and provide a gut punch to Lietkabelis. Once he saw his second three-pointer fall in quick succession, Woodbury celebrated by imitating Steph Curry’s night-night celebration and Aris went on to win 81-66.
Aris has certainly given itself a lot to do in its bid to make the EuroCup Playoffs, as the team is now 3-9 and in ninth place in Group B, but with Woodbury scoring a career-best 25 points and tying his personal best with 8 boards, he has shown that he is up for the task.
Several players on Aris’s roster have displayed their quality in recent weeks, namely Landers Nolley and new recruits Sharife Cooper and Darral Willis, but it has resulted in losses. Now that it has the monkey off its back, let’s see if Aris can make a late run towards the postseason, starting on the road at Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem on January 2.