Reds score emphatic Euroleague win at Panathinaikos
The Greek derby in the Euroleague ended with a clear victory for Olympiakos at the Olympic Sports Hall at Maroussi, avenging its league loss in Piraeus. The Reds beat Panathinaikos 84-65, grabbing a victory that will be far more useful for them than it would have been for the struggling Greens.
The Piraeus giant led from start to finish, its lead widening the most in the end, even though Panathinaikos had reduced its arrears from 16 points (39-23) to just three (54-51) at the end of the third quarter.
Shaquielle McKissic was particularly influential for Olympiakos, leading it over a strong final period that had a partial 30-14 score, when the hosts “collapsed”, in the words of Panathinaikos coach Dimitris Priftis.
The Reds had more solutions in attack, while the Greens tried triple after triple without success.
Priftis also had to rely too much on Giorgos Papagiannis in the absence of any other reliable centers, playing him for almost 37 out of the 40 minutes.
Olympiakos, that is now on a 12-5 record at the halfway point of the regular season, had McKissic and Sasha Vezenkov make 18 points each, while Panathinaikos, with four wins in 17 games, saw Nemanja Nedovic score 17 and Papagiannis register a double double (14 points, 11 rebounds).
