Fragiskos Alvertis’s ’’adieu‘‘to competing was marked exactly as he wished. In views of a great encounter, in front of a packed to the rim OAKA stadium, in a simple ceremony, of few words with the team in the center stage as he himself has kept us common to. And also an additional factor: A victory, something he has got us use to all these years; A victory against CSKA Moscow by 82-69, with his jersey from now on hanging high from the OAKA roof top gym.
First quarter seemed merely to be a”warm up“for what was to follow in the second for Panathinaikos. Zeljko Obradovic offered a spot to Fragiskos Alvertis in the initial 5, next to Vassilis Spanoulis, Drew Nicholas, Stratos Perperoglou and Nikola Pekovic. Both team’s players seemed somewhat out of it in the first minutes facing tip-off, score breaker bucket of the evening being poured in only at 2’30’’ after an attempt by Pekovic. Panathinaikos flew ahead at 5’50’’ behind a triple by the captain, Fragiskos Alvertis (10-7) forcing the crowd to express literal worship by chanting his name in unison to such an extent that the gym seemed to roar his existence, the ’’clover“never looking back from that minute forward. The first quarter closed at 21-15, coach Obradovic having also thrown into battle up to now Tepic, Diamantidis, Fotsis and Shermadini.
The ”greens“ in front of a full house with the fans not once giving up but continuously cheering to their own tune, boosting the players, gradually picked up the pace and embarked on building a distance from their rivals. Pressure in defense brought about headaches in the CSKA camp, where in frontcourt everything seemed to be expected from Langton. 23-16, 11’50’’ score became 38-16 praise to a 15-0 run, created mostly thanks to the clover’s defense, that emerged fast-breaks and easy hoops. The gap mounted to a +22 figure (38-16, 16’50’’) shortly prior to intermission (40-21), Obradovic pulling off the bench even his youngster, 15yearold Yannis Karamolengos to taste a bit of the action! Game recommencing it was high-time for Yorgos Bogris to step on court marking his first appearance in the OAKA gym both players receiving a warm applaud of welcome form the fans’ barracks.
The jersey in the sky
The moment everyone had really been waiting for came at 25’50’’ behind a symbolic act. Obradovic called off Alvertis to the bench to swap his place on the floor with Diamantidis; The passing of the torch from one captain to the next. It was only seconds later that the jersey No 4 found itself positioned on the OAKA roof top in the mites of an unstoppable applauding ovation. And at the finale, an image that left not a dry eye in the house, the fans cheering on Diamantidis and Alvertis not only applauding his successor alongside them but moreover requesting that the crowd cheer even louder.
Pavlos Yannakopoulos and Thanasis Yannakopoulos, the men that brought Fragiskos Alvertis to Panathinaikos back in 1990, Fragy only at 16 years of age then, were they who honored Fragy first. Both expressed their gratitude to Alvertis for all he has offered over the years, Thanasis Yannakopoulos stressing: ’’Each and every Panahtinaikos fan, not matter which part of Greece they may be stated, all love you“.
Fragiskos Alvertis clearly emotional, essentially addressing the fans stated: ”When I came here 19 years ago I couldn’t even imagine that an athlete could live such moments and meet fans like these. I am in loss for words to express how moved I feel right now… I am deeply grateful. If I could do it all over just to give back all you have offered me, I would do so in a heartbeat; together in good time and bad times, remember it… I thank you all immensely“.
Alvertis was honored by the President of the board of OAKA, Alexnadra Manou, on behalf of Panathinaikos F.C. by the vice president Antonis Antoniadis, on behalf of the Hellenic Association of Professional Basketball Players (PSAK) by Dimitris Papanikolaou, on behalf of SEPK by the vice president Yorgos Kalafatakis. Alvertis was also honored by the Single Organization of Gate 13 Associations.
Back to the clash
Panathinaikos and CSKA Moscow returned to the floor hosting the Russians attempt to enforce a come-back in the encounter. At 32’15’’ they cut the trail down to 11 (60-49, 32’15’’) capitalizing mostly on triples. The ’’greens” though, regardless of Obradovic’s constant substitutions, using coincidently Calathes, Verginis and Karamolengos in frontcourt raised the edge back up to +17 (70-53. 35’20’’). Pashutin saw his boys get within 11 points of their opponents (70-59, 36’40’’) nevertheless not actually managing to pose as a measurable threat for their hosts. One of the most notable aspects of the encounter was that for approximately five minutes Panathinaikos’ competing 5’ on court was made up by three players born in 1989, a 15yearold and eldest of all Dimitris Verginis, born in 1987! It was this team that reestablished the gap back up at +21 (82-61, 39’), game score resting at 82-69.
Referees: Spyridonos, Christodoulou, Mouzakis
Quarters: 21-15, 40-21, 57-42, 82-69
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Alvertis3, Tepic 5, Spanoulis 7, Perperoglou 9, Shermadini13, Fotsis 2, Bogris 2, Nicholas 11, Verginis 10, Diamantidis 4, Pekovic 13, Calathes 3, Karamolengos
CSKA Moscow (Pashutin): Kurbanov 6, Keyru 4, Siskauskas 6, Holden 3, Ponkrashov 7, Vorontsevich 8, Langton 18, Shved 5, Sokolov, Khryapa, Planinic 8, Radenovic 1, Zabelin
*Sarunas Jasikevicius found his own way to honor Fragiskos Alvertis. He sat at the edge of the bench dressed in a Fragiskos Alvertis jersey!
*Many team songs were revised to fit the event form the fans but there was also a banner in the stadium that red: ’’Let’s hope the buzzer never sounds so the captain will never have to withdraw“.
*Panathinaikos competed without the injured Mike Batiste, Kostas Tsartsaris and Sarunas Jasikevicius, whilst Giorgi Shermadini wore a face mask, since he had suffered a nasal fracture in the first game of the Moscow tournament against Triumph.
