Panathinaikos downed Kolossos Rhodes in the quarterfinal round of the Greek Cup 84-62 at the “Venetokleio” stadium. The clover currently is positioned in the tourney’s semis were it will be facing Aris.
Score breaker bucket was sunk by Kostas Tsartsaris for the guests but what came up next was not the most illustrious situation for the greens. Kolossos Rhodes being highly motivated, getting great range and be thoroughly effective managed to go up by 10 (13-3, 2’20’’) making the most of a pair of 3-point-plays plus an unsportsmanlike foul charged by the refs. Zeljko Obradovic made his first substitutions, yelled and Mike Batiste undertook the assignment to lead to a come-back behind 7 personal points, three sweet dunks in the gathering. The greens ran a partial 19-4 streak to lead by 22-17 (8’30’’), first quarter eventually resting at 20-24. The clover had headed into battle at the beginning of the clash with Diamantidis, Nicholas, Kaimakoglou, Tsartsaris and Batiste and for the second quarter behind Calathes, Tepic, Sato, Fotsis and Batiste having dominantly prevailed in rebounding already for the first half of the first quarter. The gap touched double digits for the first itme at 12’20’’, Batiste flushing the ball yet again in the rivals’ basket. Dimitris Diamantidis set out to send the margin to a +15 point standing draining a three (24-39. 14’25’’) and then on to +16 (28-44, 16’30’’) from the line before passing the torch on to Drew Nicholas who up the ante to +18 (32-50, 19’50’’), teams heading to the locker rooms score board reading 34-50 for the break. Rebounding stats lead notoriously towards the green camp (26-16), as were thing in assists (11-5). In the prior category Batiste in combination with Fotsis had already picked up 6 boards, Diamantidis on the other hand alone tallying one assist over Kolossos’s entire accumulation (6-5).
Panathinaikos kept at it with the same passion, fighting at every play as it returned to the floor, Romain Sato cruising the clover to over 20 points of a distance (41-63, 25’55’’) drilling a personal three-pointer and Nicholas forming 41-66 (27’35’’), third quarter drawing curtains at 46-69, Aleks Maric nailing the 30 minute bucket. Kolossos cut the trail down to 18 (51-69, 31’40’’) but the greens reacted effective immediately to 51-73, Obradovic pulling Ian Vougioukas off the bench at 33’ and re-introducing Kaimakoglou to the floor at 34’10’’. A pair of charity shots off Sato sent the gap to +24 (59-83, 38’10’’), Panathinaikos ultimately nailing the victory and its berth to the semifinals of the Greek Cup tournament were it will be going across from Aris, behing final score 62-84.
Kolossos Rhodes (Sferopoulos): Calathes P. 9, Kafkis 5, Avgenikos, Jordan, Ivanovic 3, Manolopoulos, Asimakopoulos, Ford 7, Charissis 2, Tsamis 15, Pappas 1, Peterson 9
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 4, Maric 7, Perperoglou 2, Batiste 19 (7rbs), Fotsis 2 (8rbs), Sato 17, Nicholas 18, Tsartsaris 3, Diamantidis 6 (9as), Vougioukas, Calathes 4, Kaimakoglou 2
*First official basket for the season was scored by Kostas Tsartsaris at 32’’ of the encounter.
Game quotes
Zeljko Obradovic stated content with his players’ competence in the encounter: “It was the first official game of the season, which started off with a knock-out game for the Greek Cup. A fact that in itself states that we had the according motivation and great concentration. Since having scouted Kolossos in the tournament that took place here (Rhodes) a few days ago we figured out that it is a good palying team that keeps up the good job and Mr. Sferopoulos deserves congratulations. Kolossos came off strong after tip-off, better than us. We needed some time to pace ourselves but I am very pleased because the team was very competitive and for large periods of time in the matchup we were very very good. There were bad parts, but it is a natural thing for this time of the season. Congratulations to my players and we wish all the best for the ensuing season to Kolossos. I would like to express a great thank you to all the fans which for yet another time were by our side in Rhodes. The atmosphere is always great here not only praise to Panathinaikos’s fans but also thanks to the locals. It is always a pleasure to compete here”.
Kolossos Rhodes’ head coach, Yannis Sferopoulos, characterized Panathinaikos’s victory as a fair result but did not rest at that: “It was an extremely tough game for us, because we all know Panathinaikos’s stature. We might have started off as the better opponent but surely it was Panathinaikos that enforced its pace. It enforced great pressure in defense and forced us to 22 turnovers whilst it also renewed many offenses of its own off offensive rebounds, tallying 11 only in the first half of the encounter. Period of time in which we received 50 points, number which for me is way to largewhen you wish to be competitive across from a great team such as Panathinaikos. We spoke about it in the locker rooms at the intermission and in the second half we returned improved. We made many mistakes in collaborations in team defense and it cost us dearly, especially in the first half. Second half score standings are a more balanced result. Our team is new, with many new additions and it needs time to bond. I am pleased with our performance at certain points of the game. We want to work hard and get rid of the periods of time in which the our performance drops at both ends of the court. Panathinaikos left us little margin to react today, was the better opponent and got the win fairly. I would like to congratulate Panathinaikos and wish it all the best for the rest of the season".
