Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens stayed in the fight for the home court advantage in the upcoming Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs by topping Valencia Basket 75-56 in the Greek capital on Friday. Panathinaikos improved to 18-11 in the regular season and will finish fourth if it beats AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan next week and Real Madrid loses against Brose Bamberg. Valencia dropped to 11-18 and already entered this game with no chance to reach the playoffs. Nick Calathes led the winners with 17 points and 10 assists. It was his 15th career points-assists double-double, tying Milos Teodosic atop the standings. Chris Singleton and Mike James each added 11 points while Adreian Payne had 10 and seven rebounds for Panathinaikos. Erick Green led Valencia with 10 points. Thanasis Antetokounmpo and James Gist combined for five dunks in a 20-6 opening run which allowed Panathinaikos to keep a 23-13 lead after 10 minutes. Aaron Doornekamp and Tryggvi Hlinason got Valencia as close as 25-23 but a 9-0 run which Matt Lojeski capped with a triple helped Panathinaikos restore a 40-31 margin at halftime. Calathes had seven points in an 11-0 run that broke the game open, 53-36, midway through the third quarter. Panathinaikos kept a 57-47 lead at the end of the third quarter, extending its margin to 70-53 soon after that, and never looked back.
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