Panathinaikos played as it knows how, with will and passion at both ends of the court, across from Maroussi to nail a road win by 98-57 at the St. Thomas indoor stadium.
Zeljko Obradovic started off behind Tepic , Sato, Kaimakoglou, Tsartsaris and Vougioukas across from respective Maroussi initial 5 Gagaloudi, Huertas, Noea, Charitopoulo and Bagaric. Teams swapped the lead in the first few minutes of the clash, Maroussi mounting to 10-6 (3’50’’). From that point forward Panathinaikos took first say on the court to reach 11-16 (6’15’’), Mike Batiste coming off the bench, Diamantidis and Nicholas following him, only to be joined by Perperoglou and Fotsis in the last two minutes of the first quarter all the way up to 14-24 (9’45’’). The quarter ended at 17-24 behind a basket+1 by Clemente, the greens nevertheless clearly having established a good pace.
Perperoglou continued to score, defence was extremely feisty leading Maroussi to turnovers, but also presenting Panathinaikos with prime time opportunities to run the open field. Drew Nicholas undertook the assignment of providing his team with a double score lead on its opponents (17-34, 12’40’’) scoring beyond the arc, his team seeming to enjoy complete domination and control over the game, also being aided by the fans. Antonis Fotsis was he who got the clover up by 20 (18-38, 14’20’’), technical staff of Panathinaikos continuing with substitution after substitution, as Vougioukas and Calathes taking the place of Batiste and Diamantidis (14’20’’). The clover maintained its high level of performance, broke the 50 point barrier at 18’30’’ (27-51), Ian Vougioukas scoring to +26 slightly later (27-53) and shortly before the first half concluded at 28-53.
Maroussi managed to pick up the slack to 20 points (38-57, 24’40’’), but Tsartsaris swiftly marked 38-59 (25’) and a 0-12 run led to +31 (38-65, 27’56’’). Third quarter closed, gap priced at +32 (41-73), Fotsis got the clover up by 36 (41-77, 31’55’’), Obradovic using Diamantidis, Nicholas, Perperoglou, Fotsis and Batiste as the fourth quarter came into session seeing towards games up ahead. In the last five minutes of the game he used all his players, the game having been determined quite earlier. A pair of triples off Drew Nicholas got the clover a +39 cushion (55-94), Calathes marked +41 (55-96, 39’30’’), Yorgos Bogris forming final game score 57-98 drilling a follow bucket.
Referees: Koromilas, Psarianos, Theonas
Quarters: 17-24, 28-53, 41-73, 57-98
Maroussi (Alexandris): Noeas 2, Bagaric 3, Akepsimaidis 11, Huertas 8, Charitopoulos 6, Gagaloudis 9, Clemente 15, Siamadouras, Tsontzos, Kalogiannidis, Kalogeropoulos 3
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 6, Perperoglou 14, Batiste 7, Fotsis 10 (8rbs), Sato 7, Nicholas 14 (4/5 threes), Tsartsaris 6, Diamantidis, Vougioukas 21, Calathes 2, Bogris 4, Kaimakoglou 7
