Greens win at home, Reds go down in Moscow

Panathinaikos renewed its claim for a top-four finish in the regular season of the Euroleague with a comfortable home win over Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday, while Olympiakos appears destined for the third spot after its loss at CSKA Moscow on Wednesday.

The Greens downed their Serb visitors 91-71 at the Olympic Sports Hall in Athens through a solid showing in the best part of the game, for their 16th win in 27 games in the regular season. The Greek champion has mathematically qualified and is now joint fourth in a four-way tie with Real Madrid, Khimki and Zalgiris Kaunas.

Panathinaikos had Nick Calathes (17 points, 10 assists) and Chris Singleton (21 points) on fire, enjoying a high-scoring performance that only subsided in the final quarter.

After a nine-point lead at half-time (47-38), the Greens made 30 points in the third period to advance by 21 (77-56) and rule out any comeback chances for the Serbs.

Panathinaikos will next travel to Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Olympiakos fought a decent battle at CSKA and went down 89-81 having pushed the Euroleague leader all the way in Moscow.

The Reds suffered their ninth loss in 27 matches even though they led after a very prolific first period (26-23).

The high pace that CSKA was able to sustain throughout the game proved too much for the Greeks, who started slipping behind from the second quarter, but without ever letting the Russians run away with it.

An outstanding Giorgos Printezis made 24 points on the night, while Vassilis Spanoulis scored 17 points but had five out of 17 field goals.

Up next Olympiakos hosts bottom-of-the-table Efes on Friday.