Hard-fought wins for PAO and AEK, record margin for Olympiakos
Panathinaikos and AEK extended their perfect record in the Basket League after the fifth round of games, but had to fight hard to defeat Apollon Patras and Kavala respectively. Champion Olympiakos trounced promoted Lavrio with a 69-point win.
Traveling to Patra is never easy for Panathinaikos and Apollon made sure it gave the league leader a good run for its money on Monday. Yet a good last few minutes by the Greens gave them a 90-80 win to keep them level with AEK at the top of the table.
AEK had an unexpectedly hard time against visiting Kavala in Athens on Saturday, but eventually overcame the Macedonians’ resistance to win 80-72. AEK was also boosted by the singing of Kifissia player Dimitris Mavroidis.
Olympiakos remained one point behind the leaders with a 108-39 thrashing of hapless Lavrio in Piraeus on Sunday in its biggest win since the A1 division started in 1986.
Aris is also one point from the top after seeing off Trikala in a very close encounter in Thessaloniki. Even closer was the match between Kifissia and Korivos, which the Amaliada team won 61-60.
In other Saturday games Kolossos downed Arkadikos 83-70 on Rhodes and PAOK scored its first win, 74-63 at Rethymno, after acquiring former Greece center Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
