By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Kendrick Nunn beat the buzzer with a floater to hand Panathinaikos Athens an 81 – 79 away win over Virtus Bologna. The Greens, that saw their opponents coming back from down 17 before getting the victory, improve to 21 – 11 and made a big step towards possibly securing homecourt advantage in the playoffs.
After its seventh loss in a row, Virtus is 17 – 15 and eighth in the standings.
Marius Grigonis was the one to pull off a huge 3-point play by scoring the putback basket and winning the foul to tie the score at 79. Ognjen Dobric had previously put Virtus up 79 – 76 with a triple with 51 seconds remaining but that was the last his team scored in the game.
“It was a hectic atmosphere on the road but we got it done,” Nunn said. “Sloukas carried us in the entire game. My teammates, we all did a good job. We let them back in the second half a little bit in the second half. The coach got into me down the stretch to get it done.”
Nunn finished with 16 points, five rebounds plus five assists and Grigonis had 12. Kostas Sloukas led Panathinaikos overall with a season-high-tying 20 points while Jerian Grant dropped all of his 13 points in the first quarter when his team got a 16 – 28 advantage.
“He is a scorer”
“After a fantastic first half, we didn’t play well in the second half,” Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman said. “We made a lot mistakes, we missed open shots and free throws. Bologna found rhythm, especially Marco Belinelli who found his shots. Finally, we had a good defense and Nunn found the score. He made some mistakes before but he’s a scorer and he hit the buzzer to win the game. Two games more to protect our second spot in the standings.”
Toko Shengelia (19 points) and Marco Belinelli (17 points) stood out from Virtus. Their team trailed 22 – 39 in the second quarter and was down 39 – 51 at halftime before their comeback in the second half.
“Details can decide games like this,” Virtus Bologna coach Luca Banchi said. “And we need to be sharper after such a long season. Not repeating the same mistakes.”