By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
KC Rivers scored 24 points (6/10 three-pointers), grabbed 9 rebounds and heard the fans chanting his name as Panathinaikos beat an injury-plagued Olympiacos 72 – 59 for the 15th round of the Greek Basket League.
With this victory, the Greens are now tied 14 – 1 with their arch-rivals at the standings. Yet the Reds keep holding the top spot since they had taken a 25-point victory during the first leg of the regular season.
Giorgos Printezis led Olympiacos‘ scorers with 14 while also getting 6 rebounds. Kostas Papanikolaou added 13 plus 5 rebounds and Nikola Milutinov 11 and 5 boards as well. The defending champs lacked the services of Matt Lojeski and Patric Young and watched Vassilis Spanoulis also getting sidelined early in the match.
Panathinaikos also had Chris Singleton in power-mode with 20 points and lots of helps from the perimeter (4/5 three-pointers). Downtown baskets were a key aspect of Panathinaikos’ offense with Xavi Pascual’s players dropping 12, a big number for the 72 points with which they finished the game.
Greek Basket League 2016/2017 – Week 15
Koroivos Amaliadas – Kymi 94 – 64 (Kenny Hall 25 points)
Apollon Patras – Trikala 68 – 73 (Sotiris Manolopoulos 15 points)
Aris Thessaloniki – Rethymno 98 – 50 (Vassilis Kavvadas 18 points, 5 rebounds)
Kolossos Rhodes – PAOK 73 – 68 (Langston Hall 28 points)
Lavrio – AEK 84 – 87 (Giannoulis Larentzakis 19 points)
Doxa Lefkada – Promitheas Patras 73 – 79 (Miroslav Todic 20 points)
Panathinaikos – Olympiacos 72 – 59 (KC Rivers 24 points, 9 rebounds)