Panathinaikos edged Apollon P. 95-79 in Patras for Basket League OPAP, Day 26 only to get the first place in the regular season.
Apollon Patras led the game almost throughout the first half. They entered focused, they were sharp behind the arc (4/7 in the first period) and they built a small lead. Panathinaikos scored for the first time at 3'35'' of the game with Stephane Lasme (5-2), who seemed to be the safe solution in offense. Apollon got to +6 (10-4, 5'), the Greens cut the lead to 1 (12-11, 6'15''), but the hosts kept the control of the game going all the way to 25-15 (11'). Loukas Mavrokefalidis was offering the solutions needed, with a variety of moves. The margin dropped to 4 points (27-23, 12') and Panathinaikos got the lead for the first time (29-30, 14'30'') behind 5 points of Ramel Curry. The lead changed hands many times, Greens led by 2 (37-39, 16'50''), with Antonis Fotsis scoring behind the arc, before the 45-44 at the half time.
The rhythm of the game changed 100% in the third period. Panathinaikos was much more effective in defense, found solutions in the paint only to use a 4-17 to lead to 61-49 behind a three pointer by Jonas Maciulis. Greens led by +14 (51-65, 26'28'') with Ukic. One more fast break with Dimitris Diamantidis passing the ball to Mike Bramos this time to lead to 58-73 (28'40''). The third period ended 58-75, with Mavrokefalidis passing to Zack Wright.
Panathinaikos continued in the same rhythm, the margin got up to 26 points 62-88, 36'30''), with Nikos Pappas passing the ball to Wright and Lasme for two impressive dunks. Greens reached the victory with the final 79-95.
Referees: Somos, Tsonos, Malamas
Quarters: 23-15, 45-44, 58-75, 79-95
Apollon P. (Vetoulas): Ross 16, Argyropoulos 10, Kaperonis, Daniel 9, Wilson 10, Lianos 4, Oikonomopoulos, Petrovic, Molfetas 13, Niforas, Milutinovic 3, Hott
Panathinaikos (Alvertis): Bramos 9, Curry 18, Fotsis 5, Ukic 4, Lasme 19, Mavrokefalidis 12, Diamantidis 2, Gist 8, Pappas 2, Jankovic, Maciulis 3, Wright 6
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