Quite a tough test for Panathinaikos across from Barcelona , the Catalans to ultimately prevail in the clash 85-80 in the Sofia tourney’s final.
Barcelona to go for the reigns of the encounter from minute one and all the way done the stretch to final buzzer; Panathinaikos however staying alive and close on the score board, attempting to reach to solutions and manage to pose a threat to its rival; And this given as a grated the absences of Diamantidis and Ukic, plus limited game time for Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
In the first few minutes teams went neck in neck, tying at 3’ (6-6) and then again at 5’ (10-10), the greens to lead for the first time slightly later praise to Schortsanitis (13-15 at 6’, 14-17 at 7’20’’), first quarter of the game to rest at 20-19. Last time the clover got to measure up to Barcelona was at 14’ (27-27). The Catalans went for a 9-2 run, got the score board reading 36-29, the greens to pick up the slack to 36-33, teams to head to the locker rooms for half time, Panko setting the score at 40-36.
Maciulis undertook the assignment of closing the gap even further to 40-38, game recommencing (20’30’’) but half way through the third quarter Barcelona picked up the pace even further, got to good shots, result being a 55-51 score to flex to 65-52 at the end of the third quarter. Argyris Pedoulakis watched his players continue their effort, creep up on their rivals (65-59, 32’) behind Panko and Armstrong but things on the floor were already a Catalan done deal. Barcelona went up by 10 (76-66 at 35’20’’, 80-70 at 37’’), Panathinaikos however not throwing in the towel until final buzzer, actually getting to cut the trail down to a 5 point distance, curtains ultimately falling behind final game score 85-80 off an attempt behind Schortsanitis.
Quarters: 20-19, 40-36, 65-52, 85-80
Panathinaikos (Pedoulakis): Bramos 6, Armstrong 14, Kitchen 15, Schortsanitis 15, Tsartsaris 4, Maciulis 15, Panko 9, Giannopoulos 2, Kommatos
*Panathinaikos will be returning to Athens tomorrow slightly after 20.00h.
