By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After trailing for most of the game, Panathinaikos cut Barcelona’s lead to one point in the closing minutes.
Still, the hosts got the 74-68 win and tied Fenerbahce BEKO on the top of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings with a 10-4 record.
Jan Vesely with 15 points, Nikola Mirotic with 14, and Tomas Satoransky with 13 led a balanced offensive effort, while Dwayne Bacon finished the game with 19 points for Panathinaikos after scoring just four in the first half. Giorgos Papagiannis paired 13 points with nine rebounds.
Barcelona started the game by putting on a show, leading by 16 (28-12) at the end of the first period. Panathinaikos didn’t give up and made it an 8-point game in the third (47-39) period.
Barcelona reacted and entered the fourth period with an 11-point advantage (62-51), however, Panathinaikos trimmed their lead to one (69-68) with three minutes left after a 7-0 run.
“Congratulations to Barcelona for the win. They played excellent at the beginning of the game,” summed up Dejan Radonjic, “In the first quarter, they had 8/10 threes and 28 points. Our defense was not good. After that, we played better on both ends.”
Tomas Satoransky answered back with a three (72-68), Panathinaikos couldn’t score, and Vesely made it a six-point game (74-68) and the game was over. “We were really close to winning this game,” commented Radonjic on the comeback falling short.
“We must be very happy with this win,” stated winning head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, “After a very emotional and hard win in Monaco, we were here in 48 hours, a little bit inconsistent as a team, but overall these are the kind of games you have to win. In some moments, we were incredible in defense. Right now, we have too many problems to be consistent for 40 minutes. Hopefully, we are heading in that direction and we can get there.”