By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow is on to a two-game streak after defeating Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on the road with an 89-83 victory in Round 7 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Dimitris Itoudis’ squad improved to a 4-3 record and slowly gets back in form after a rough start into the new season.
The Army Team kept their hosts at bay with the help of Will Clyburn who added a team-high of 15 points and 7 boards. Darrun Hilliard posted 14 and Daniel Hackett stepped up in the second half and scored 13 points. Mike James completed the list of top scorers with 10 points.
CSKA enjoyed a 27-18 breakout in the second period to take a 51-42 lead at halftime while extended its lead to double digits in the third quarter. Panathinaikos, that returned to its EuroLeague duties after last week’s postponed game against Zenit, tried to bounce back in the fourth, with Nemanja Nedovic pacing the team with a game-high performance of 19 points and four boards, though his efforts were not enough.
“I think we had composure when they came back twice, although it is a problem when you lose the difference just like that. But they did a pretty good job. They isolated, they have pretty good shooters who were shooting the ball pretty good, especially Nemanja Nedovic. But the fact we did not turn the ball over more than 7 times, for the second consecutive game, means we are going to have more possessions. And if we own the ball more, we can create things as well. So we put more difficulties to our opponents”, commented Itoudis post-game.
Ioannis Papapetrou finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds, Aaron White followed with 11 points, while Giorgos Papagiannis and Lefteris Bochoridis tapped 10 points apiece.
Photo: EuroLeague