One day Athens returned to the National League. On a magical night and with a Carlos Cerutti sports center packed with fans, “El Griego” won 80 to 57 over Racing de Chivilcoy and became champion of the Argentine League.
The scorer of the game was Lucas Arn with 21 points, but Gustavo Peirone’s team had several high points such as Juan Cruz Oberto (9 points and 10 rebounds), Chris Ware (12 points) and Nicolás Zurschmitten (9 points and 8 assists).
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General Bustos’ “El Griego” imposed conditions throughout the match and achieved a well-deserved promotion. They won the first half by ten points and after imposing their game they won the match after a clear victory.
Personality and defense: the two keys to success
In a defining game, the details make the difference. However, the distance between the two teams was such that Atenas managed to manage it from the start, as the books indicate.
With its people involved from the first minute, the Córdoba team managed to take an early advantage of seven points, which allowed it to clear up the tensions of the previous game and for Racing to begin to feel the pressure.
Lucas Reyes was key from the bench. Photo: Daniel Cáceres/Cadena 3.
It paid off, because Gustavo Peirone’s team had a great defense against the Racing insiders (Stuckey and Peralta) and to top it all off from the perimeter the visit had a night to forget: 16% in triples (5/31).
This lack of aim allowed the people of Córdoba to manage the rhythms. He even had the luxury of Lucas Arn only attempting two shots at the rim in the entire first half, given the great performance of Oberto on the boards, Buemo on the perimeter and Chris Ware from the bench.
“El Griego” went to the locker room winning by 10 points: 39-29. It was the worst offensive first half for “The Academy” in the entire playoffs and Atenas took advantage of it.
A second time with pure heart
The unknown at the beginning of the third quarter was whether the local team was going to be able to sustain the defensive intensity, as it could not do in game 4 in Chivilcoy, but tonight the story was different.
Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, the one who took the lead of the “Greek” offensive was captain Lucas Arn, who came to this game between cottons (contracture in the right calf) and decided to leave the locker room with the sole mission of ending the series .
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With 9 points in the period, with two triples and forcing several penetrations that forced Racing to commit infractions, he took the ship to shore, slowly, but forcefully, as in all the playoffs. For this reason, Atenas took the third quarter with an almost irrecoverable lead: 58-42.
The fans and the identity with the team
Little by little and as the minutes passed, the Athens fans began to unleash their madness. Some screaming wildly at each point, others crying or hugging their loved ones when they realized the inevitable, that Athens was going to be First Division again.
Photo: Daniel Cáceres/Cadena 3.
Perhaps in the first three minutes of that last quarter the most skeptical stayed away from any celebration, but from then on the Athens players were in charge of ending the series and giving their fans a magical night, full of emotions and memories , which will be saved in everyone’s retinas.
Because if this team recovered something, it was not only the category, but the identity of the public with the shirt. A reconciliation that is worth much more than a promotion and can be the kickoff of something bigger, like the story of the “Greek Green.”
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Report by Ignacio García Iturriza.
