By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos beat Anadolu Efes in overtime with 92-81 and Xavi Pascual’s team bettered to 10-7, while forcing its opponents to 8-9.
KC Rivers kept the winners alive in the most crucial moments of the game and finished the game with 23 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds. Alessandro Gentile added 15, Mike James and Ioannis Bourousis shared 14 each and Kenny Gabriel had 10.
For Efes, Thomas Heurtel led with 15 points, Jayson Granger followed with 14, Derrick Brown (who almost finished the job in the final seconds of the 4th period) had 12, while Tyler Honeycutt and DeShaun Thomas shared 11.
Gentile and Rivers led the Greens in the first period, with a few long distance shots each, while the visitors’ Granger and Thomas did the job offensively. After 10 minutes, Panathinaikos was up 21-13. With a 3-pointer by Nichols, the hosts grabbed a 13-point lead at 17′, then Honeycutt and Granger trimmed it at 38-32 at halftime.
The Greens kept the lead for most of the third period, before Efes made its own run in the game and tied the score for the first time at 48 points. Both teams headed to the final period at 50-50.
The game was onto a thriller-like finale, with the Greek team keeping a short head (58-57) halfway through the forth quarter, then Efes grabbed a one-point lead with less than 3 minutes remaining. Singleton gave a breather to the hosts with a shot, then Brown saved the day for Velimir Perasovic’s team. Mike James sent the game to overtime by tying the score to 70 points.
Rivers set the mood for the Greens in overtime, with the game reaching a 10-point difference at 43′. Efes was at a loss throughout the extra five minutes and so the hosts could totally turn the tables in the game and grab an important home win.