By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After losing to Barcelona, Panathinaikos ended the latest double-action week with a second defeat.
Baskonia got the 91-77 win and still has hopes for the play-ins with a 9-13 record, while Panathinaikos dropped to 13-9 and lost ground in the race for the top.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot with 20 points and Chima Moneke with 18 led the charge for the hosts, while Kamar Baldwin added 15.
For Panathinaikos Cedi Osman had 16 points, Omer Yurtseven added 14, Lorenzo Brown scored 12 and Kendrick Nunn for the second consecutive game scored seven points.
“Baskonia had more energy than us, they are a very good team, they lost to Olympiacos on details and I can complain only about the schedule, since we played on the road on Wednesday and Friday and didn’t have the opportunity to rest, so this is something the EuroLeague should look at”, said Panathinaikos coach Ergin Ataman.
The Greeks are now tied with Monaco, Barcelona, and Crvena Zvezda between the fourth and the seventh spot in the standings.
Baskonia with a big finish
Baskonia had a nine-point lead (22-13) at the end of the first period, however, Panathinaikos reacted and trimmed the lead to three (30-27) after a three-pointer by Panagiotis Kalaitzakis.
Ioannis Papapetrou and Juancho Hernangomez tied the score at 32, but Baskonia got the lead back (45-36) with a 13-4 run with Chima Moneke scoring five of those points.
The halftime score was 48-38 with Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot making a three at the buzzer and finishing the 13 points the first 20 minutes of action.
Things changed at the start of the second half with Panathinaikos having a 13-5 run and closing the gap to two (53-51), but Baskonia had their own 8-0 run to create distance again (62-51) and with a three by Luka Samanic the hosts closed the third period up by 13 (70-57).
Panathinaikos tried to make a comeback again, starting the last quarter with a 10-3 run (73-67).
Nikos Rogkavopoulos made a big three (76-67) for Baskonia, Jerian Grant answered the same way (76-70), but Baskonia again extended the lead to 12 (82-70).
Panathinaikos trimmed the lead again (82-77) but couldn’t get any closer as Baskonia got a big win.
Photo credit: EuroLeague