Panathinaikos was unable to snatch the win at the indoor arena of Saint Thomas. It was defeated 80-70 by Marousi, for the firts game in the Greek League second round. Marousi was the team with all the resources in the first half of the game. In spite the "Greens" breathing down their throats and by making the most primaily out of high-low collaborations and then above the arc field hoops, at moments when Panarthinaikos' defence was off balance, the Marousi players managed to build a substantial edge reaching even to a +14 distance from their opponents.
The guests stepped on the floor as the better party, held on to their lead almost throughout the entire 10 minutes of the firts quarter, all the way down to the first minutes in the second quarter at wich point an outburst was put-in by the "clover" featuring Spanoulis and Batiste, accumulating a +5 advantage (24-29, 14'30''). From that minute further though Marousi came up even mightier. It exploited Panathinaikos' every mistake, let it be noted that the "Greens" closed the the first part of the game behind 11 turnovers accross from Marousi's respective 3 during the same period of time. Break found the score at 45-32, difference having peaked just a while earlier (+14, 45-31, 19'50'').
One of the most defining moments in the fist half was a technical foul charged to Antonis Fotsis, also his third foul in the encounter at 8'45'' and moreover the unsportsmanlike foul charged to Drew Nicholas at 15'20''.
Zeljko Obradovic went for a two tall guys formulation for the first time in the encounter, second part comencing, using both Batiste and Pekovic across from Maurokefalidis and Glyniadakis. This turned out to be a good choice, whilst when Diamantidis and Jasikevicius reimagined their perimeter shoting ability (2-out of-7 for Panathinaikos in the first part), the margin closed to 5 points (50-45, 24'40''). Stevenson dialed twice long distance and was the key-giver to his team at this point since these two shots put an end to Panathinaikos' 9-0 run. Marousi continued finding easy three-point shots and getting lucky at them, mounting once more to its +12 advantage before the third quarter buzzer wrang, score at 67-57.
Defence and pressure at every play in the game was what Panathinaikos embarked to capitalize on in the fourth quarter. Jasikevicius helped in organizational matters, gave a few breathers in offence, but coach Obradovic found the defence he longed for in the faces of Diamantidis, Spanoulis and Hatzivrettas, his three guards alongside Fotsis and Batiste. Panathinaikos crept up to a 4 point distance (70-66, 33'10''), although the home -team seemed to have the game in its hands, managing to reach 77-68 at 36'45'' behind two free-shots buried by Stevenson. Final score 80-70 marked Obradovic and his players' second defeat in the league.
Referees: Voreadis-Koukoulekidis-Somos
Quarters: 20-19, 45-32, 67-59, 80-70
Marousi (Markopoulos): Stevenson 21, Keys 6, Charalampidis 26, Tountziarakis, Diamantopoulos 7, Huff 4, Stefanidis 8, Mavroidis 4, Mavrokefalidis 9, Calathes, Glyniadakis, Kaimakoglou 5
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Jasikevicius 15 (4/5 three-pointers), Kecman, Spanoulis 12, Batiste 18, Fotsis 6, Hatzivrettas 2, Nicholas, Tsartsaris 3, Diamantidis 8, Pekovic 4, Sakota 2
