By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Nemanja Nedovic came close to his season-high performance with 33 points as Panathinaikos OPAP Athens defeated visiting LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 88-71 in Round 19 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Nedovic set the mood for another big scoring night as he tapped 18 points in the first half, while he exited the game with 6 assists, 5 rebounds and a PIR of 40 to lead all scorers, under the guidance of interim coach Kostas Charalampidis. Panathinaikos reached a much-needed victory after a three-game slip and improved to a 6-12 record in the standings.
The Serbian guard had one more reason to celebrate though. “It’s Serbian New Year’s Eve tonight and I wanted to give myself a reason to celebrate and I will go crazy somewhere… Just kidding, there’s a lockdown, so I have nowhere to go”, he said after the game. “We all had to step in for Pap [Ioannis Papapetrou]; he’s a very important player for us. And I think we did a great job.”
Despite Nedovic’s heroics, it wasn’t an easy W for the Greens, as feisty ASVEL didn’t let the hosts expand their lead to more than 10 points for three quarters, alongside a strong start in the first period.
Georgios Papagiannis added up to Nedovic’s efforts with 18 points and 8 boards, while Kostas Mitoglou tapped 11 points and 9 boards.
Norris Cole paced TJ Parker’s squad with 15 points, David Lighty had 13, while Moustapha Fall added 10 points and 9 rebounds for the French team that will look to bounce back when they face Olympiacos in Piraeus on Friday.
The Greens are expecting Oded Kattash to arrive in Athens this week and will look to turn this victory into a streak as they face off Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Friday.
Photo: Eurokinissi