Panathinaikos is as per now in the Greek Cup semifinals, since it overcame Panellinios at the OAKA arena by 90-81 for the quarterfinals of the tournament. The “Greens” will come up against Marousi at the indoor stadium of St. Thomas on the 24th of January.
Panathinaikos stepped on the floor determent to swiftly wrap up the game, leaving no room for doubt to its opponent. The initial five Diamantidis, Kecman, Nicholas, Fotsis and Pekovic were the ones who put the plan of control over the game into action and all substitutions that followed loyally kept to it thus providing their team with a score get-away car, early on in the encounter.
From the initial 6-0 (3’20’’) up to the 17-5 (6’10’’) and from there to the 25-13 of the first quarter, only dark mark Dimitris Diamantidis’ disqualification just a while after minute 6 in the game by the referees. Zeljko Obradovic was in the joyful position to see his players react correctly, elevating the lead all the way to a +22 advantage (41-19, 15’10’’). Panellinios made use of certain situations on the court, reduced its trail at half-time to 48-37, only to keep up on its own run even when the second half begun, reaching Panathinaikos to a single basket 50-48 (22’), mainly getting to unguarded long distance shots.
An 11-0 run from Panathinaikos’ side came right after as an answer to Panellinios’ efforts, formulating the score to 61-48 (27’15’’). From then on and by reaching high fidelity plays from time to time, clearly effective at crucial periods in the game, Panathinaikos got away even more, offering show-time moments not only in offence but in defense too, until curtains fell in the game, final score 90-81. Next appointment for Panathinaikos is the match-up with Olympiakos on Sunday for game 7 in the Greek League.
Referees: Mastraftsis, Anastopoulos, Stamatopoulos
Quarters: 25-13, 48-37, 67-58, 90-81
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman 2, Spanoulis 10, Perperoglou 8, Batiste 3, Fotsis 11 (11reb.), Hatzivrettas 2, Nicholas 15, Tsartsaris 9, Diamantidis, Pekovic 15, Sakota, Jasikevicius 15
Panellinios (Zouros): Ostojic, Papamakarios 5, Kalaitzidis 5, Kalaitzis 1, Grundy 19, Newley 13, Nadjfeji 15, Petrovic 10, Golemac 6, Petroulas 7
*Fragiskos Alvertis and Dimitris Verginis were not on the official roster.
