Panathinaikos marked 1-0 in the first phase of the HEBA League play-off series. It downed Peristeri 88-60 at the OAKA arena.
Peristeri proved from minute one not to have made the trip all the way up to the OAKA arena destined to through in the towel. It was not expected form it either by anyone. From tip-off it tried to measure up to Panathinaikos, host who stepped out on court behind Tepic , Perperoglou, Nicholas, Tsartsaris and Vougioukas the latter substituting Batiste rapidly. The guests led by 0-2, both teams going neck in neck all through the first five minutes of the clash (8-8, 4’50’’), Panathinaikos performing behind Nicholas primarily, Stratos Perperoglou to follow firing a three to 14-8 (6’40’’). The gap vanished (14-13, 7’50’’0 but the clover had established a pace. It broke away by 10 (30-20, 13’45’’) and then some by 16 slightly prior to first half conclusion (47-31, 19’10’’), Antonis Fotsis having tallied 11 points behind 4-for-4 twos and 1-for-1 three.
Panathinaikos failed to slow down, on the contrary tried to enforce further pressure, run on the fast break for the easy bucket, climbing all the way up to a 25 point cushion (59-34, 25’), Peristeri however not giving in yet. The gap was priced at 30 points a distance at 35’15’’ (82-52) as Drew Nicholas connected with Batiste for a show time alley-oop to get the fans in an applauding mood, green edge ultimately peaking at +31 at 37’25’’ (68-55), highest advantage of the eve. Final game score 88-60 sealed the deal for the greens to go for their first win of the play-offs. Next matchup is scheduled for Saturday (30/04) at 1600h (LT), this time at Peristeri’s indoor stadium.
Referees: Afentoulidis, Kaldiris, Poursanidis
Quarters: 20-15, 47-32, 69-46, 88-60
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 2, Maric 5, Perperoglou 5, Batiste 6, Fotsis 15, Sato 2, Nicholas 12, Tsartsaris 8, Diamantidis 11, Vougioukas 6, Calathes 13, Kaimakoglou 3
Peristeri (Pedoulakis): Mantzaris V., Woodward 2, Psaropoulos, Papanikolaou 12, Mantzaris A. 3, Scott 18, Petroulas 5, Vrkic 9, Looby 8, Marinos, Mocvic 3
