Playbl. EKA AEL passed victoriously from Kosovo, defeating Peja 94-84 for the Balkan League and moves up to nine points, one less than Lovcen.
Kalia Papadopoulou’s team was excellent throughout the game, where they had the lead and opened up a difference of up to 21 points. At the end of the fourth quarter, when the hosts tried to come back, the Limassol blue and yellow team withstood the pressure and held on for the victory.
AEL had three players with more than 20 points, as Shepherd scored 29, Makuoi 24 and McClure 22, while the fourth foreigner of the blue and white team, Flowers had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
On the Peja side, Davis was the leading scorer with 25.
Next Thursday, AEL will play their sixth game in the competition, as they will face Pristina in Kosovo.
The Match:
A strong start for Peja, with the home team leading 11-2 at the beginning, but AEL reacted immediately, creating a 10-0 run, to go ahead 12-11, in a very interesting start to the match.
All this, at a fast pace and while the lead kept changing hands, with the score reaching 16-14 for Peja, but once again the Azzokitron players found a rhythm and with a new run, this time with a 12-3 run, they overtook the lead 26-19 at 8′ and with the completion of the 1st half of the game, they were able to take the lead.of the quarter, AEL was leading 30-22.
Continuing the very good rhythm that AEL had during the1st quarter and at the beginning of the 2nd, they maintained a difference of around +8, at the initial points.
Although there was a slower pace in the game, compared to the1st However, thanks to the continuous scoring of Deandre Davis, the hosts closed the gap to 35-32, just before 15′, but thanks to the shooting from the perimeter, AEL increased the lead to +12 (48-36), which happened just before 18′, with the blue and yellow team having a very good rhythm in their game, combined with their accuracy in the offense.
At the end of the half, AEL led 55-43.
The score remained unchanged in the first 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter, while the pace became slow afterwards, but AEL managed to gain a +13 lead, when they led 60-47.
Shortly afterwards, there was a break in the game due to technical problems and it resumed after about 15 minutes.
However, AEL did not lose the rhythm and then gained a 14-point lead, when they led 70-56, just before 18′, while at the end of the 3rd quarter, AEL’s lead remained at +14, when they led 73-59.
Shepherd and Makuoi, continued to give solutions to AEL in scoring and this helped them to keep the difference above +10, at the beginning of the 4th quarter, when the hosts tried to push and shortly after 35′, they closed the gap to 83-74.
However, AEL seemed to be able to cope with the pressure, as they found solutions in the offense and finally reached the victory 94-84.
The quarters: 22-30, 43-55, 57-73, 84-94.
Peja: Davis 25, Edler-Davis 15, Ismaili 14, Qallaku 13, Thomas 7, Zeqiri 7, Malaj 3
Playbl. ECA AEL: Shepherd 29, Makuoi 24, McClure 22, Flowers 13, Markou 6, Georgiou, Mytilos
