By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Howard Sant-Roos is one of the marquee signings of AEK. And in the big game against Brose Baskets, he appeared for the first time in the Basketball Champions League.
According to the numbers, the Cuban jack of all trades was just average. However, besides his 7 points, 3 assists and 3 steals, he was the man mainly responsible for keeping Tyrese Rice in check and leading the defending champs to the win.
After losing at home to Hapoel Jerusalem, AEK needed a double overtime in order to prevail over Nymburk and the pressure was on for the game against the Germans. In the end, AEK had a reason to smile and Sant-Roos was one of the key reasons for that. “Hopefully I helped the team play better after returning to action”, he said to Eurohoops after the game. “We knew Tyrese Rice was coming hot after two incredible games. I was trying to stop him. That was my goal in this match”.
With a 2-1 record, AEK seems to be on the right path to defend its title and the 27 year old forward hopes that the Greeks started a trend with the way the played against Bamberg: “We just have to continue doing our job on both sides of the courts. If we continue performing like this, we will have great results”.
After all, AEK has a solid fan base that feeds from this kind of wins. AEK fans were an important asset in last year’s championship run and the same can happen this season.
Howard Sant-Roos admitted this fact and believes that nobody will have an easy night at OAKA all season long: “The fans were amazing. They are definitely our 6th man on the court. The way they cheer for us for 40 minutes, they are amazing. There is nothing else to say. We surely need them to continue like this. They were amazing”.