PAOK signed Giannis Athinaiou. The 30-year-old Greek guard penned a two years contract with PAOK. Athinaiou has more than 200 caps in the Basket League Greece having played for five teams: Panionios, KAOD, Aris, AEK, and Olympiacos. He has also played abroad for Armani Milano in Italy and Eskisehir in Turkey. In his last season, Athinaiou averaged 8.6 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.3 rebounds in 24 games with Aris.
AEK hosted and beat Aris for Basket League Greece 2014-2015 twenty second day. In a tight game Aris was following AEK for more than thirty minutes but in the end Wilbekin, Mensah-Bonsu and English gave their team a victory and covered the points difference of the first round defeat. For the winners Carl English was the top scorer with 18 points, Malik Hairston scored 16 points. Mensah-Bonsu made a double double with 16 points, 12 fouls drawn (12/17 ft), and 12 rebounds. Wilbekin had 10 points and 6 assists and Athinaiou had 14 points. For Aris Aleksandar Vezenkov had 23 points and 7 rebounds. Torey Thomas had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists! Drew Naymick had 20 points with 10/13 two pointers, and 6 rebounds.
Quarters' scores: 21-21, 48-35, 67-62, 93-77
Aries Trikala hosted and beat AEK for Basket League tenth day. Aries Trikala was in the bottom of the League table but AEK had only one road victory. The game started with a 25 minutes delay due to fights between the police and AEK fans, with the police throwing tear gas inside the closed court which created problems in the breathing. AEK with Car English was leading the score by 11 points, 19-30, but the home team managed to counter attack and celebrated a great victory. The game was a fight between Aries Trikala's Kenny Kadji and AEK's Carl English, both of them finished the game with a double double, 33 points and 11 rebounds for English, 21 points and 11 rebounds for Kadji. For the winners Ntinos Nikolopoulos had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Justin Ingram had 14 points but with 3/9 field goals. For AEK Dusan Sakota had 15 points, 6 rebounsd and 5 assists, Ziris Sarikopoulos had 8 points and 5 rebounds, Giannis Athinaiou had 11 points and 4 assists.
Quarters' scores:19-24, 44-40, 60-64, 87-83
Olin Edirne signed Giannis Athinaiou. The young Greek played signed with the Turkish team after a great season with Aris in Greece and Olimpia Milano in Italy. With Aris Athinaiou played 22 games averaging 13.41 points and 2.41 rebounds per game. Athinaiou finished third in fouls drawn in the Basket League Greece 2013-2014 and will participate in the forthcoming FIBA World Championship with Greece.
Basket League Greece 2013-2014 most improved player Giorgos Bogris. Two players of PAOK were named as the two most improved players of Basket League Greece 2013-2014, Giorgos Bogris and Michalis Tsairelis. Bogris played 25 games with PAOK and had 10.72 points and 6.8 rebounds per game in average.
Aris announced that parted ways with Giannis Athinaiou. Aris didn't want to release the player but Athinaiou wanted to continue his career in Italy with Armani Milano. In this season Athinaiou played 22 games with Aris and had 13,4 points, 3,3 assists and 2,5 rebounds in average per game.
Ilisiakos hosted Aris for Greek Basket League 22nd day. Iliakos and Aris had played 11 games for Greek Basket League and Aris have won all of them. Ilisiakos started good and was leading the score with 9-7 before Aris made a 2-10 run and finish first quarter with score 11-17. In the second quarter Ilisiakos scored only 9 points and finished the first half with 20 points, a very poor game. In the first half Ilisiakos had 6/10 free throws, 4/26 field goals and 2/8 three pointers. Ilisiakos was missing the shots and Aris was collecting the rebounds with total 32 in the first half against 19 of Ilisiakos. In the second half Ilisiakos started with a 11-3 run and finished with partial quarter score 24-12 and one point lead, 44-43. Last quarter started with Ilisiakos leading the score but the home team blacked out and didn't score for 9 minutes(!!). Aris made a 14-0 run and took back the lead and won the game. Ilisiakos will be relegated in the second division but was fighting in most games, this game was just very bad for the team. The team didn't score for 9 minutes in the fourth quarter and scored 7 points total in the last minute. With 13/50 field goals and 4/20 three pointers from Ilisiakos Aris had the chance to collect 54 rebounds. Aris was also bad in three pointers with 3/22 but had 19/34 field goals. Cheikh Mbodj collected 12 rebounds but had only 2 points by free throws and 0/5 field goals. For Ilisiakos only Stelios Ioannou with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals was positive. For Aris Michalis Pelekanos and Giannis Athinaiou had 17 points each. Alexander Vezenkov collected 12 rebounds and had 8 points while Asimakopoulos collected 10 rebounds without scoring a point.
Quarters' scores: 11-17, 20-31, 44-43, 51-63.
Aris hosted and lost by Apollon Patras for Greek Basket League 19th day. In a very tight game where both teams wanted to win in order to skip the relegation zone and approach the play offs zone the winner was Apollon Patras after one extra time. Both teams were poor in three pointers with the home team having 8/30 and visitors 5/23. Aris collected more rebounds, 44 against 39, but made 20 turnovers while visitors only 12. Vezenkov, Pelekanos and Athinaou failed to win the game in the normal time since Lenny Daniel scored only one of the two free throws he shot in the last minute. In the extra time Aris scored the first two points but with partial score 4-12 Apollon Patras got a crucial and great away victory. For Aris Giannis Athinaiou scored 19 points, Alexander Vezenkov 14 and Michalis Pelekanos 13 points. For Apollon Patras Roland Ross had 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, Jeremiah Wilson missed another double double with 15 points and 9 rebounds, and Lenny Daniel had 14 points and 6 rebounds. The Greek players for Apollon Patras scored only 5 points, a team that totally depends on foreign players.
Quarters' scores: 17-18, 36-35, 52-51, 63-63. Extra time: 67-75
Panionios lost by Aris for Greek Basket League 18th day. Panionios players seem a bit tired from Eurocup games and with Errick McCollum scoring only 10 points the team has a problem. Panionios was leading the game in the first half but couldn't win the game. Giannis Athinaiou, former player of Panionios, was the top scorer of Aris with 16 points, 6 assists and 7 fouls drawn. For Aris Michalis Pelekanos had 15 points and 6 rebounds and Alexander Vezenkov 13 points and 7 rebounds. For Panionios Marc Carter was the top scorer with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Errick McCollum and Keith Langford added 10 points each but the team seemed tired.
Quarters' scores: 15-16, 33-31, 44-50, 63-68.
Panathinaikos smashed Aris with 90-53 for the Greek Cup Final 2014. Aris was competitive only in the first half. First half finished with equal score for the two teams but in the second half Panathinaikos made a 15-0 run and cleared the game. Ramel Curry was the top scorer for Panathinaikos with 17 points but Jonas Mačiulis with his three pointers and Dimitris Diamantidis with his guidance helped their team win the game in the third quarter. For Aris Lefteris Bochoridis was the top scorer with Giannis Athinaiou, Alexander Vezenkov and Michalis Pelekanos helping in score mainly in the first half. This was the fiftteenth and third consecutive Greek Cup for Panathinaikos. Aris remains with 8 Greek Cup wins.
Quarters' scores: 20-18, 40-40, 75-47, 90-53
Aris beat Rethymno Aegean for Greek Basket League 17th day. Both teams had their own good periods in a tight game. Rethymno Aegean was leading the score in the first quarter but Aris with good defense on Derek Wright and Justin Hurtt made their team shot 3/14 three pointers. Kenny Gabriel led his team in a counter attack in the third quarter but the game was tight until the end. Eziukwu and Wright missed to score in the end, Aris scored with free throws and won a crucial game before the Cup Final. For Aris Giannis Athinaiou had 16 points, Michalis Pelekanos 10 points and 8 rebounds. For Rethymno Aegean Giannis Kalampokis scored 23 points and Kenny Gabriel 15 points. Callistus Eziukwu made a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Quarters' scores: 20-21, 39-26, 49-49, 73-67.
Nea Kifisia hosted and defeated Aris for Greek Basket League 16th day. Nea Kifisia with 8/8 free throws and 4/7 three pointers took an early lead and finished the first quarter with double score, 32-16. Nikos Liakopoulos had 10 points in first quarter. Aris with Alexander Vezenkov managed to lower the difference of the first half to 11 points but the team was still bad in three pointers. Nea Kifisia broadened by one point its lead in the third quarter but in the crucial last one Aris made a 9-0 run and approached in 6 points. Aris was trying to turn the game on its side but Dimitris Tsaldaris with a three pointer in the last minute gave his team 9 points lead and secured the victory. Great game for Dimitris Tsaldaris with 18 points, 4/6 three pointers. Tony Crocker scored 17 points and Michalis Kakiouzis had 8 points and 7 rebounds. For Aris Alexander Vezenkov and Giannis Athinaiou had 12 points each, with Vezenkov having 8 rebounds too.
Aries Trikala hosted and defeated Aris for Greek League twelfth day. First quarter was great for the hosting team that scored 27 points and managed to keep the difference until the half time. In the 35th minute Sarikopoulos gave Aris the lead for the first time with one point, 40-41. Third quarter finished with equal score 50-50 but in the beginning of the fourth quarter Aries Trikala made a 10-3 run and regained a small difference. Aris lowered the difference with Sarikopoulos, Athinaiou and Vezenkov. In the last minute the scored was 66-60. Then Aris scored a three pointer with Pelekanos, two points with Sarikopoulos and another three pointer with Sarikopoulos, taking the lead by 66-68. Aries Trikala didn't score, Sarikopoulos missed two free shots but home team didn't score again and Athinaiou made the score 66-69. Jeremy Granger scored a three pointer in the last second and the game finished equal in normal time. Aris collected more rebounds than Aries Trikala in the normal time (28-42) but the hosting team had an almost perfect game with only 6 turnovers! In the extra time Jeremy Granger and Patrick Ewing Junior scored 6 points in a row before Athinaiou and Sarikopoulos counter attack with their 5 points in a row. Great game in the extra time too. The game ended with a dunk from Patrick Ewing Junior and Aries Trikala winning after a quality game. Patrick Ewing Junior scored 20 points and collected 8 rebounds. Jeremy Granger scored 21 points and collected 5 rebounds. For Aris, Sarikopoulos Zisis with 13 points and 9 rebounds, Athinaiou Giannis with 21 points and 7 assists and Pelekanos Michalis 18 points and 8 rebounds were the top players.
Aris hosted and defeated Ikaros Chalkidas for Greek League eleventh day. This was the first game without coach Aggelou but it was an easy victory. Giannis Athinaiou scored 28 points with 6/7 three pointers. Ikaros Chalkidas had 2/11 three pointers while Aris had 14/29. For Ikaros Chalkidas Ivan Aska had 23 points and 8 rebounds and Darrin Govens 10 points and 5 rebounds.
