11.12.2007

PAOK Rocked At Home By Tartu

Tartu Rock rode an 18-3 run at the start of the second half to a decisive 69-58 triumph at Greek strugglers PAOK on the opening night of the Qualifying Round in the EuroCup.

PAOK, who parted with coach Tab Baldwin after a heavy loss at home to AEK left them

		Dimitrios Verginis led a fourth quarter surge that managed only to make the score more respectable.

bottom of the standings, have brought back former coach Kostas Flevarakis to coach the team for the first time in seven years.

Flevarakis steered the team to a Greek Cup triumph in his previous spell with the club.

Right now, PAOK will be looking to just win some games and judging from Tuesday, they may have to wait a while for that to happen.

They trailed for virtually the entire game, including a 31-22 deficit at half-time.

After closing the gap to 33-25 early in the third quarter, Estonian outfit Tartu scored 16 unanswered points.

Early in the fourth quarter the visitors’ lead ballooned to 60-34 and they cruised home, with PAOK only managing to make the scoreline look more respectable.

Flevarakis was on the bench for PAOK and offered an assessment after the defeat.

“We played against a team that has many players from the national team roster of Estonia and what we want to keep is the performance of our young players during the last quarter,” he said.

One of those players, presumably, was 20-year-old Dimitrios Verginis,  who had the majority of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.

“I told my players in the locker room that this is the point we need to start from and we need to work hard,” Flevarakis added.

“I believe we’re going to make it defense wise; however, we have a big problem on offense.

“We don’t have any time at all, we need to move quickly and make the right choices.”

Tartu out-rebounded their hosts 40-25

The Estonian team’s Janar Talts had 15 points and nine rebounds while Brian Cusworth scored 14 and grabbed eight boards.

11.12.2007

Quotes PAOK BC vs. Tartu Rock

Allar Kerde, head coach Tartu Rock:

“Of course we are happy to have won, however, from what I’ve been seeing in the statistics; we were very good at rebounding but not in defense. We have made many mistakes during the last five minutes and although the opponents were not able to catch us, it was a 50-50 situation. A very difficult game overall”.

Brian Michael Cusworth, Tartu Rock:

“We are very happy to walk away with an away victory over a team of such a strong and professional league. Our defense was not right during the last quarter; nevertheless, it was an important victory for us.”

Dimitris Charitopoulos, PAOK BC: 

“We are disappointed from losing, since we badly wanted to win this game. However, we have a new coach and we need to work very hard from now on to try and reverse a very difficult situation for us. It was a good thing that we managed to play some serious basketball during the last quarter."

Kostas Flevarakis, PAOK BC coach:

“We played against a team that has many players from the National team roster of Estonia and what we want to keep is the performance of our young players during the last quarter. I told my players in the locker room that this is the point we need to start from and we need to work hard. I believe we’re going to make it defense-wise; however, we have a big problem on offense. We don’t have any time at all, we need to move quickly and make the right choices.”