By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
With Ioannis Papapetrou coming up big in crunch time, Olympiacos outplayed Panathinaikos down the stretch winning the Greek EuroLeague “clasico” 77 – 69.
This victory improved the Reds’ record 11 – 5 and preserved their position at the second place of the standings, while their arch-rivals now stand at 9 – 7.
Papapetrou was definitely the “man of the hour” for the Greek champs scoring 8 out of his 13 points in the last 5 minutes of the match. He was the main responsible for transforming the 65 – 62 to 73 – 64 with 3:14 to go, which set the foundations for his team’s win.
Vassilis Spanoulis (12 points, 7 assists) then finished the job for the hosts with consecutive baskets that made it 77 – 65, 1:27 before the final buzzer.
An absolutely unstoppable Mike James dropped 24 points while K.C. Rivers finished with 23. Yet their fantastic efforts weren’t enough since coach Pascual saw Nick Calathes (4 points, 4 assists, 4 turnovers), Giannis Bourousis (4 points, – 2 ranking) and Chris Singleton performing (10 points, 6 rebounds) well below their usual standards.
Still James and Rivers’ were all that Panathinaikos needed to keep up with their opponents at halftime (38 – 37) and then take a narrow lead 45 – 48 near the end of the third quarter.
Yet back to back buckets by Matt Lojeski (7 points), Erick Green (10 points) and Papapetrou didn’t only make it 55 – 48, but shifted the momentum in Oly’s side.
Khem Birch had previously put the hosts in the driver’s seat at the first quarter (17-11) dropping 9 out of his 11 points in the start of the match. He also had 9 rebounds and big defenses near the end.