Red typhoon sweeps Fenerbahce
Panathinaikos goes down at Valencia despite its comeback
Olympiakos swept past Euroleague leader Fenerbahce on Tuesday, before Panathinaikos succumbed to its host Valencia in Spain.
A spectacular first half saw Olympiakos trounce its Turkish visitor with a 94-67 score at the Peace and Friendship Stadium to stake a claim for a top-four finish against the best team in the tournament so far.
The Reds looked irresistible in the first quarter, taking a 20-point lead (31-11) that they extended by half-time (58-31). There simply was no way back into the game for the team of Greek coach Dimitris Itoudis, that was lucky not to concede 100 points by the end of regulation.
This was Olympiakos’ ninth win in 13 games, one win short of Fenerbahce.
It had Sasha Vezenkov make 21 points and Alec Peters with Giannoulis Larentzakis add 12 each.
Panathinaikos, on the other hand, wasted a great first quarter and a remarkable late comeback to go down 94-91 in overtime at Valencia, after four straight wins.
The Greens had gone 10 up (25-15) toward the end of Q1, but ran out of steam as the game went on to trail by 14 (59-45) midway through Q3. They bounced back to go level (70-70) early in the last quarter and force overtime with an 84-84 regulation result.
In overtime the Athens team even edged ahead (91-90), but failed to score again despite numerous attempts.
Panathinaikos, that had Dwayne Bacon score 22 points and Derrick Williams another 21, is now on a 6-7 record, the same as Valencia.
