Panathinaikos got to a road win across from Peristeri by final 89-64 for day 16 in the HEBA League.
Peristeri took Panathinaikos by surprise momentarily as a pair of good triples behind Zoran Vrkic jog the home-team to a hasty 6-0 run, which became 7-0 (1’50’’) as Looby made a free throw. Reaction however was immediate by the greens, who based their efforts mainly in defense, replied with a personal 8-0 run and led (7-8, 4’50’’). Teams went neck-to-neck in scoring, Panathinaikos climbing all the way up to +7 (13-20, 9’25’’). Second quarter was all visitor game. Peristeri throughout the entire quarter got to a single field goal praise to Vangelis Mantzaris (1-for-9 twos’, 0-fo-3 threes’) and whatever score it got to accumulate was thanks to the charity line (8-for-10). 15-20 flexed to 16-36 at 16’40’’ behind a partial 1-16 streak pulled by Zeljko Obradovic’s players, who were determined to present the pleasing image so much in backcourt (thrice did Peristeri fail to perform any kind of an offense prior to the offense clock buzzer sounding), as in frontcourt illustrating great collaborations and patience until the unguarded man to be found. During the last minutes of the first half Panathinaikos put the pedal to the metal, invested in fast breaks, gathered rebounds (15-21) and cruised ahead to a +23 cushion (20-43, 18’40’’), before both teams headed to the locker rooms score at 25-47.
Obradovic chose to start off the second half competing with 4 shorter players (Diamantidis, Tepic, Perperoglou, Sato) and only one genuine big-man, Mike Batiste. Panathinaikos kept up its swift pace to get up by 26 at 22’ (25-51). Perperoglou went to a man-to-man offense twice against Petroulas to provide his team with a +27 edge (30-57, 24’), third quarter concluding 43-72 with a Death Valley three from Nick Calathes at the buzzer.
Fourth quarter opened with a 4-point-play behind Vrkic (47-72, 30’40’’) after Ian Vougioukas’s fourth foul, Tsartsaris having already committed his four fouls since 27’30’’. Panathinaikos never looked back, Yorgos Bogris sealing the score to final 64-89 drilling a pair of free-throws into validity.
Referees: Christodoulou, Andrikopoulos, NIkoloulis
Quarters: 15-20, 25-47, 43-72, 64-89
Peristeri (Pedoulakis): Mantzaris V. 4, Psaropoulos 3, Papanikolaou 9, Marougas, Mantzaris Α., Scott 3, Tsiakos 7, Petroulas 2, Vrkic 23, Looby 8, Marinos, Mocnik 5
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 13, Perperoglou 15, Batiste 8, Fotsis 3, Sato 8, Nicholas 10, Tsartsaris 4, Diamantidis 3, Vougioukas 12, Calathes 11, Bogris 2, Zoubos
*Sidelined for Panathinaikos were Kostas Kaimakoglou (pulled hamstring) and Aleks Maric.
Press Conference
A man of few words was Zeljko Obradovic after the clash with Peristeri at the press conference. “We committed a very mature game. It was interesting as far as the aspect of tactics. Congratulations the players for their high motivation and their effort. All the best for Peristeri in the ensuing season”, the clover Head Coach stated characteristically.
Kostas Tsartsaris stated: “We were coming from a defeat that injured our mentality. We wanted to play well and keep our self confidence at a high level. We did exactly that, stepped out on court aggressively from minute one, formed a safety cushion from the first half and then proceeded to save our strengths and try out certain things. All the best next for Peristeri, let’s hope it always competes in the top category and gets better and better every year”.
In reference to the situation of Peristeri’s team today, team with which he himself had competed in the past, Tsartsaris stressed: “10 years ago the Greek League was quite different than what it is today, more healthy teams existed, Peristeri amongst the 10. I hope what is up ahead will be a different situation, with a more competitive championship”. Panathinaikos’s PF was questioned about the Mediterranean League. “I do not know if it will be a good thing for the Greek basketball. But it is unfair for 2-3 teams that invest a large amount of money that there is such a great difference with the rest of the teams”.
Peristeri Head Coach, Argiris Pedoulakis stated concerning the game: “We cannot complain about the players’ efforts. They did what they could. Panathinaikos has a solution for every problem, it maintains the same team years now and knows exactly what to do. We fought, had problems in two point shots, a phenomena with two different interpretations. We hope for a better future with the new player addition to our team. I believe he will help us”.
Zoran Vrkic, top scorer for Peristeri, stressed: “We played a bit intimidated, we did not instrument the serenity we usually do. As the game proceeded we became more relaxed. We missed many easy shots and lay-ups. You can notice from the score that during the second half we kept our cool more pleasingly. The issue isn’t if you win or lose to Panathinaikos but the way you lose to such a team. It is not bad to finish at 6th place for us. We have many games we can snatch and we will fight”.
