By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Rytas Vilnius couldn’t have started the 2022-23 Basketball Champions League in a better way, since they beat PAOK 85-62 at home, getting the 1-0 advantage in the series.
The November MVP Marcus Foster keeps on being the leader of the home side. The former Panathinaikos shooting guard ended with 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.
His backcourt teammate Elvar Fridriksson played consistent point guard minutes, scoring 10 points and dishing 5 assists.
Two of them arrived at Jarvis Williams (8 p, 5 r), who flew above the rim in the first minutes of the game. Moreover, Martynas Echodas and Margiris Normantas combined for 25 points.
PAOK had Jalen Riley, who has scored 15+ points in each of his last four games, as its best player on the court, as usual. The 29-year-old ETSU product scored 17 points but registered 5 turnovers as well.
Jaylen Hands came off the bench, trying to help with 11 points and 4 rebounds.
Rytas Vilnius, who before the game grabbed 40.9% of the rebounds disputed on their offensive board, the highest ratio of any team in the BCL this season, completely dominated around the rim.
The Lithuanian side grabbed way more rebounds (45 vs 25) and scored more both in the paint (46 vs 28) and from the bench (44 vs 28).
The winner of this best-of-three series (G2 on 11/01) will meet Telekom Baskets Bonn, BAXI Manresa, and Bahcesehir College or Filou Oostende in Group J of the Round of 16.
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League