Robinson-Earl Leads Aris Past Rostock 110-79 to Go 4-0 in EuroCup

By Taki Panos

There are road wins, and then there are road wins that feel like home games. Aris had the second kind on Tuesday, October 20, beating Rostock Seawolves 110-79 in Germany to make it four wins from four in the BKT EuroCup, as the club's official report and the Seawolves' own match report confirmed. Vassilis Spanoulis's side led 37-58 at halftime and stretched the gap to as many as 36 points before the final buzzer.

For anyone catching up, October has been a good month in Thessaloniki. Aris opened the Greek Basket League with a loss in Karditsa, then smashed AEK 88-58 at Nick Galis Hall, beat Derthona 88-68 in the EuroCup and handled Maroussi 74-57 at home. Rostock were hoping a big night would carry them. It was the club's first ever sold-out European game, with 4,620 fans packed into the StadtHalle, per the Seawolves. Basketballsphere wrote that the night turned into a party for the traveling Aris supporters instead.

It stayed competitive for about five minutes. TJ Crockett Jr. briefly put Rostock ahead 7-5, the hosts reported, before threes from Neno Dimitrijevic and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl swung the momentum. Vassilis Toliopoulos then hit back-to-back threes and the first quarter ended 20-29. Rostock were also short-handed, as center Owen Klassen was ruled out shortly before tip-off after a knock to the knee and watched from the bench, according to the Seawolves.

The second quarter is where the game got away from the hosts. Toliopoulos opened it with his third three, Matt Morgan hit two more from deep, and Robinson-Earl finished an alley-oop and another dunk as Aris turned a nine-point lead into 21 by halftime. The club's report had Aris shooting 10 of 17 from three in the first half. That is the kind of number that ends arguments early, and the third quarter, won 25-14, ended any lingering doubt.

Robinson-Earl led everyone with 21 points and 10 rebounds, a double-double that Parallaxi noted came on 8 of 12 shooting inside the arc. Morgan added 20 points and went 9 of 9 at the line, Dimitrijevic scored 17 with four assists, and Toliopoulos finished with 16, figures Basketballsphere also reported. Balanced is the polite word for it. Rostock simply had nowhere to hide on defense, and Aris kept finding the open man.

There was a family touch, too. Thanasis Antetokounmpo scored in the first half, and Kostas Antetokounmpo closed the third quarter with two dunks that took the score to 51-83, per the club's play-by-play. It was a nice way to start a big week for the brothers, with Giannis set to make his regular-season debut for the Miami Heat against Minnesota on Wednesday night in Miami, NBA.com reported, after a near triple-double in preseason. For Athens viewers, that tip-off lands at 2:30 AM on Thursday.

For Rostock, Todd Withers scored 22 points. The Seawolves lost the rebounding battle 43-34 and turned the ball over 19 times against just nine for Aris, their own report said, calling it the heaviest defeat in the club's 24 European games so far. That is a hard way to mark your first sold-out European night, and the game had stopped being a contest long before the fourth quarter.

Spanoulis was pleased with more than the scoreline. "We had 24 assists for only nine turnovers, we shot excellently and made the right decisions," he told the club's website (translated from Greek). He also singled out Elijah Mitrou-Long and Adam Mokoka for their defense, noting that in Greece people often judge a player only by how many points he scores, and said Liddell's six assists showed another side of his game.

The traveling support was a story of its own. Spanoulis spoke of seeing a thousand Aris fans at the other end of Germany, while the Seawolves counted almost 800 Greek supporters inside the arena. "It's moving how many come and support the team from far away, and we thank them," Toliopoulos told Greek reporters after the game, per Metrosport (translated from Greek). Toliopoulos also said the team wanted the margin as high as possible, because the goal is to improve over all 40 minutes.

There was news beyond the box score as well. Stefan Jovic made his first appearance of the season, and Spanoulis said the plan to use him had nothing to do with the margin or the opponent. Young Chrysostomos Chatzilamprou hit the three that took Aris past 100. The less happy note is Vasilis Charalampopoulos, who has a calf injury that Spanoulis said will need a month, with the medical staff watching closely to avoid a setback.

My take: the Seawolves called Aris title favorites before tip-off, and nights like this explain why. The ball moved, the defense was connected, and nobody seemed bothered about whose name went in the box score. I would still keep the celebrations measured. Toliopoulos himself brought up the early league loss in Karditsa, and a perfect European record means little if the same focus does not show up in the league on the road.

That test comes quickly. Next up for Aris is a Greek Basket League trip to Mykonos on Saturday, October 24, at 3:00 PM Athens time, per the club's schedule. Keep an eye on our Greek Sports section for that one, and for Giannis's first steps in Miami. Four from four in Europe. Keep it rolling.

Sources: Aris BC, Rostock Seawolves, Parallaxi, Basketballsphere, Metrosport, NBA.com.

Image: Aris crest, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).