PAOK will be Greece's third representative in next season's Euroleague after seeing off Aris in the third-place playoff series through its 63-56 win on Wednesday.
With the best-of-five series tied at 2-2, the contest for a place in the qualifying round of Europe's top club competition went down to the wire with PAOK enjoying home advantage.
The hosts dominated Game 5 as they led throughout the match in a tense atmosphere at Pylaia, with the game being interrupted several times due to objects thrown from the stands.
Led by Rawle Marshall (20 points) and Robert Dozier (17 points and 18 rebounds), the players of coach Soulis Markopoulos won the series with a 3-2 score and returned to the Euroleague for the first time since 2001.
There is, however, a chance that the Euroleague will admit a fourth Greek club next season, in which case Aris will be admitted to the qualifiers and PAOK might go straight to the group stage, along with Panathinaikos and Olympiakos. This will be made known later this month.
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