Euroleague: Reds and Greens win ahead of their clash

Panathinaikos and Olympiakos scored home wins in the Euroleague ahead of their all-Greek clash next week.

Olympiakos defeated Virtus Bologna 74-69 in Piraeus on Thursday to take another step toward a top-six finish in the regular season.

This win was precious for the Reds, against a team with the same aspirations that led for most of the first half at the Peace and Friendship Stadium (37-46 at half-time).

However after the interval Olympiakos was a changed team and produced a stunning 20-5 partial score in the third quarter to take the game in its hands and win it by five in the end.

The Reds, playing without injured Thomas Walkup, had captain Kostas Papanikolaou notch up 16 points, while Isaiah Canaan added another 12.

With six rounds of games left to play before the playoffs, Olympiakos has got a 17-11 record and lies fifth.

Panathinaikos lies third, with 18 wins in 28 games, after beating ASVEL Villeurbanne 85-67 in Athens on Friday.

Playing once again in front of a capacity crowd at the Olympic Sports Hall, the Greens followed up their famous road win at Real Madrid the previous week with a much-needed victory over lowly ASVEL.

After a tight first half that had the Greeks lead by just two points (38-36), the hosts stepped on the gas increasinh their distance further as the time went by, led by an impressive Jerian Grant.

The American shooting guard made 21 points on the night, his Euroleague career high, followed by the ever-spectacular Mathias Lessort with 17 points.