Panathinaikos sealed the Greek League regular season with a road win against AEK at the indoor Sporting stadium by 79-70 for game 26.
The encounter was shared between both opponents, AEK being most dominant in the first half, Panathinaikos prevailing in the second. The hosts stepped on court more determent, managed to take the Greens by surprise and ran a 10-0 streak, the guests making an effort to input their resist, gaining on their rival to a 2 point distance (15-13, 7’30’’), only to see them fly ahead once more, this time behind a new 11-2 run (26-15, 12’10’’). The “clover” being feistier at the boards, tightening defense and running a personal 11-0 streak managed eventually to lead praise to charity shots sunk by Drew Nicholas (29-30, 17’30’’), the first half ending 31-35.
Panathinaikos ruled second half. Mike Batiste set the tone, the Greens reached to +6 (34-40, 21’20’’) after a triple poured in by Sarunas Jasikevicius, AEK threatening yet again, getting to a new lead (43-42, 24’50’’); although it was their last lead in the encounter. Zeljko Obradovic was pleased to see his boys become more effective in backcourt, have entire control over rebounding (37-23 overall stats in favor of Panathinaikos) and mount to a +13 edge (48-61 at 30’45’’, 60-73 at 36’40’’). The score board at the final buzzer red 70-79, Jasikevicius-Spanoulis having dropped 12 points each.
Referees: Mastraftsis – Anastopoulos - Andrikopoulos
Quarters: 21-15, 31-35, 48-57, 70-79
ΑΕΚ (Flevarakis): Tapoutos 8, Vasilopoulos, Papanikoalaou 4 (5ρ), Thompson 10 (6 α), Chatzis 4, Dorkofikis 5, Kikerpill, Bryant 19, Andersen 2, Nemeth 18
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Kecman, Spanoulis 12, Perperoglou 11, Batiste 10, Fotsis 6, Hatzivrettas 3, Nicholas 11, Jasikevicius 12, Pekovic 8, Sakota 6
Play offs
Panathinaikos is up against PAOK for the play offs, Saturday, April 25 at 19:00h at the OAKA arena. Game 2 will take place Monday, April 27 and if the need for a third game rises it will be held on Friday, May 8. Two wins offer qualification to the next round. The other pairs of phase 1 are: Olympiakos – Kolossos Rhodes, Aris – Panionios, Marousi – Panellinios.
