Panathinaikos faced its second defeat in a row for the Euroleague Top 16. Due to circumstances the host at OAKA, it was downed by Maroussi by 80-78.
Neither team could get away in the clash. Panathinaikos seemed to hold the superlative, led for the greatest part of the encounter, ever trying to create a secure distance. In the first half behind go-to-guy of the hour big man Pekovic (19 points tallied up to 20’) the greens recovered from a 3 point trail (28-25 at 13’30’’) to mount a 5 point cushion (33-28 at 19’), nevertheless not managing to escape their opponent, not keeping up the pace that could offer them with a sense of security.
Third quarter seemed to present Panathinaikos with the elements it was lacking and after all through 1st half. More aggressive defense, pressure, attempts to speed up the pace and opportunities to get to easy hoops all this resulting in a sweet 10 point lead (43-53, 25’55’’). Maroussi however unraveled an immediate come-back. It tied at 55-55 (29’40’’), not resting at this. It exploited even the meekest mistake committed by the greens and investing all it had in its heaped arsenal of triples (2 off Pat Calathes and 1 added by Marios Batis) it got to lead (64-62 at 33’20’’). Billy Keys drained a three to get his team up by 6 (72-66, 36’15’’). Dimitris Diamantidis drilled a three to copy him at the other end of the court (72-69, 37’). Keys and Nicholas swapped long haul buckets to re-establish the score at 75-72 (37’20’’), slightly before Lucas and Mavroeidis shared baskets to up the ante for the “hosts” to +7 (79-72 at 38’). Antonis Fotsis cut the edge to 4 getting range from beyond the arc for the clover (79-75 at 38’40’’), Maroussi went for a turnover in its succeeding offense thus providing Nicholas with the opportunity to close the gap even more down to 2 (79-77, 38’20’’), Fotsis combined with Batiste to steal the ball, the latter drawing a foul 45’’ pending on the game clock to get the score to 79-78, Maroussi won a foul 21’’ left in the game, but was not allowed to get to the line yet. Fotsis committed a rapid foul on Kaimakoglou (20’’3), culprit of the final score 80-78.
Referees: Mitjana (ESP), Jovcic (SRB), Bulto (ESP)
Quarters: 21-21, 37-40, 55-57, 80-78
Maroussi (Bartzokas): Keys 17, Pelekanos 10, Batis 5, Homan 13, Nadjfeji 2, Mavroeidis 4, Calathes P. 11, Kaimakoglou 8, Lucas 10
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic, Spanoulis 8, Perperoglou 2, Batiste 15, Fotsis 10, Haislip 2, Nicholas 11, Diamantidis 11, Pekovic 19, Calathes N.
*Kostas Tsartsaris, Dimitris Verginis and Yorgos Bogris were not included in the official line-up.
*At 9’40’’ Nikola Pekovic by scoring point number 13 in the encounter mounted 1000pts in his Euroleague career
