Panellinios BC boosted its Last 16 hopes and handed visiting Galatasaray Café Crown its first loss of the season with a 66-62 win on Tuesday. Manolis Papamakarios and Joe Krabbenhoft each recorded 15 points and 6 rebounds to pace Panellinios, which held off a late Galatasaray rally to get to 2-2 in the standings. Panellinios hosts Bennet Cantu next week in an important game for the Last 16 race. Samo Udrih added 10 points for the winners. Josh Shipp and Preston Shumpert scored 18 points apiece for Galatasaray, which is now 3-1 and hosts GasTerra Flames in Week 4.

Krabbenhoft got things started for Panellinios with a triple before Luksa Andric accounted for Galatasaray’s first points. Shipp’s first two baskets gave the visitors their first lead, 7-8, but in no time Papamakarios and Maurice Bailey put Panellinios back ahead and Rado Rancik’s free throw made it 11-9 at the 10-minute point. Evren tied the score at the start of the second quarter. It stayed even as Papamakarios and Tutku Acik traded threes and played out like that until halftime, with nearly every basket forcing a lead change – 10 in total in the quarter – before Shipp’s second chance basket lifted Galatasaray to a 26-28 halftime edge.

After Papamakarios tied the game early in the third quarter and Shipp and Bailey traded threes, Krabbenhoft connected twice from downtown to make it 37-31. Shumpert answered with a triple as Galatasaray stayed close behind. Acik cut the gap to 1 and Ermal Kuqo tied the score at 42-42. Krabbenhoft and Papamakarios put the hosts back up and Djuro Ostojic made it 48-44 at the end of the quarter. Ostojic and Papamakarios pushed Panellinios to 53-45, but Galatasaray never gave up the fight. Kuqo and Shipp scored clutch baskets, but Papamakarios countered with a dagger-like triple. Shumpert put a fright into the local fans when his three made it 63-60, but he missed his next try from behind the arc and Ostojic and Krabbenhoft sank free throws to restore a 6-point edge and wrap up the victory.