2020-21Regular SeasonRound 17
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade 74
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 71
December 30, 2020 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 ALEKSANDAR NIKOLIC HALL

Zvezda holds off Greens in Radonjic debut

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade defeated Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 74-71 in the Serbian capital on Wednesday in Coach Dejan Radonjic's first game back on the Zvezda bench. Zvezda improved to 6-11 in the EuroLeague standings and moved in front of Panathinaikos, which dropped to 5-11. Zvezda led 22-13 after 10 minutes behind an unstoppable Corey Walden and boosted its margin to 48-37 at halftime. The hosts kept a 57-46 margin at the end of the third quarter, but Ioannis Papapetrou rallied Panathinaikos to tie the game, 68-68, in the final minute. Johnny O'Bryant, Walden and Dejan Davidovac were ice cold from the foul line, which allowed Zvezda to win the game. Walden paced the winners with 17 points, Quino Colom added 13 and Ognjen Dobric 11 for Zvezda. Panathinaikos got 20 points from Papapetrou and 16 from Nemanja Nedovic.

Aaron White and Shelvin Mack each struck from downtown to get Panathinaikos going. Ognjen Kuzmic stepped up for Zvezda, but Georgios Papagiannis took over with an alley-oop slam and Papapetrou added a fast break basket for a 4-10 score. Dobric hit a triple and got help from O'Bryant and Davidovac to put the hosts ahead, 13-10, after a 9-0 run. Nedovic downed a three-pointer, but Walden struck three times from beyond the arc for a 22-13 Zvezda lead, which Ben Bentil cut to 22-15 after 10 minutes. Marko Jagodic-Kuridza and Nedovic traded triples early in the second quarter. Aleksa Radanov scored in penetration and Dobric added a tip-in for a 29-18 Zvezda margin. Marcus Foster and Papagiannis tried to change things for Panathinaikos, but Colom and Dobric sank back-to-back three-pointers to boost the hosts' lead to 41-25. Papapetrou answered with a backdoor layup and found help from White, Nedovic and Bentil to bring Panathinaikos within 48-37 at halftime.

Jagodic-Kuridza and Duop Reath boosted Zvezda's lead to 52-39 after the break. Reath kept pushing the hosts with a layup and a put-back slam, but Dinos Mitoglou and Leonidas Kaselakis gave the Greens hope, 57-46, after 30 minutes. Nedovic hit a mid-range jumper early in the fourth quarter and Howard Sant-Roos scored off a steal, which prompted Zvezda to call timeout at 57-50. Walden rescued the hosts with a driving layup and Colom bettered Nedovic's dunk with a bomb from downtown that gave Zvezda fresh air at 62-52. Papapetrou downed a pair of jumpers, but Colom and Jagodic-Kuridza kept their team out of trouble, 68-57, with over 3 minutes left. Papapetrou stayed on fire with a layup-plus-foul and a couple of three-pointers, the second one from way downtown to tie it at 68-68 with 53.2 seconds left. O'Bryant and Walden hit free throws, but Papapetrou downed another triple. Davidovac drew a foul with 4.4 seconds remaining and made both attempts. Panathinaikos did not get a final shot up in time.

Pivotal performer

Quino Colom came off the bench and gave his team's offense a big boost. He finished the game with 13 points on 3-of-5 three-point shooting and 4-of-5 on free throws, plus an assist and 3 fouls drawn - all in 14 minutes on the court.

Game-changing moment

Ioannis Papapetrou had 9 points in a 0-11 run that allowed Panathinaikos to tie the game, 68-68, in the final minute. Johnny O'Bryant hit free throws and Ognjen Dobric collected a critical steal that sent Corey Walden to make it a two-possession game, 72-68. Davidovac sealed the outcome from the foul line.

Stellar stat

Three-point shots and turnovers made the difference in this game. Zvezda hit 12 of 30 three-pointers (40.0%) and Panathinaikos only downed 8 of 29 (27.6%). Zvezda only had 10 turnovers and Panathinaikos got 15.

Did you know?

Zvezda has beaten Panathinaikos in Belgrade five times from 2015 to 2020, but never by more than 6 points. Its only double-digit win against the Greens, 91-66, came on December 4, 1969.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action next week - on Thursday, January 7, 2021. Zvezda hosts Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, featuring former players Lorenzo Brown and Marko Guduric. Panathinaikos welcomes Zenit St. Petersburg, which has some familiar faces including Coach Xavi Pascual and sharpshooter K.C. Rivers.

Corey Walden - Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade - EB20
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; PATERNICO, CARMELO; SHEMMESH, SEFFI
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade2226917
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens1522925
End of Quarter1234
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade22485774
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens15374671
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
00 O'BRYANT, JOHNNY 23:02 5 1/3 0/2 3/4   4 4 2 1 2     1 5 9
2 WALDEN, COREY 29:01 17 2/5 3/8 4/4   2 2 5 2 3   1 4 5 15
4 USKOKOVIC, ALEKSA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 DAVIDOVAC, DEJAN 32:57 6 2/5 0/3 2/2 2 2 4 4 3 1   1 2 3 10
10 LAZIC, BRANKO 13:19           1 1           3   -2
11 REATH, DUOP 5:29 7 2/2 1/1   1   1               8
12 RADANOV, ALEKSA 14:49 5 1/1 1/1                   1   4
13 DOBRIC, OGNJEN 27:47 11 1/4 3/7   1 3 4   2 2   1 4 2 5
21 JAGODIC-KURIDZA, MARKO 22:17 6 1/4 1/3 1/2 1 3 4           3 4 5
22 SIMANIC, BORISA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
32 KUZMIC, OGNJEN 16:58 4 1/2   2/2 3 4 7     1 1   1 1 10
55 COLOM, QUINO 14:21 13 0/1 3/5 4/5       1   1   1 1 3 10
Team           1 3 4     3         1
Totals 200:00 74 11/27 12/30 16/19 9 22 31 12 8 13 1 4 20 23 75
        40.7% 40% 84.2%
Head coach: RADONJIC, DEJAN
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 MACK, SHELVIN 25:52 5 1/2 1/3   1 2 3 5   4   1 4 1 2
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 21:52 5 2/3   1/1 1 4 5   1 1 2   1 4 14
7 BOCHORIDIS, ELEFTHERIOS 2:30                              
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 23:47 20 5/6 3/6 1/2 1 2 3     3     3 3 15
14 KASELAKIS, LEONIDAS 18:33 3 0/1 1/2   2 3 5 3 1       4 1 7
16 KALAITZAKIS, GEORGIOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
17 FOSTER, MARCUS FRANKLEE 3:11 2 1/1     1   1               3
26 NEDOVIC, NEMANJA 29:54 16 3/6 2/10 4/4 1 2 3 4 1 1     2 4 14
30 WHITE, AARON 21:00 8   1/4 5/6   1 1           2 4 7
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 13:02 4 2/3 0/1     3 3     2     1 1 3
50 BENTIL, BEN 19:21 6 2/3 0/2 2/2 2 2 4 1 1 3 1   2 1 6
74 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 20:58 2 1/3 0/1     2 2 3 1 1 1   4 1 2
Team           1 4 5               5
Totals 200:00 71 17/28 8/29 13/15 10 25 35 16 5 15 4 1 23 20 78
        60.7% 27.6% 86.7%
Head coach: VOVORAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

RADONJIC, DEJAN
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"First of all, congrats to my players for the game tonight. Before the game, it was, for me, most important to play better than the last game, especially, but we played much better. Then in the first half, we had quite good offense and made a lot of shots with good defense, too, but in the second half, we missed a lot. We made some mistakes offensively and our defense was good, I can say and in the end, in this moment, it is a very, very important win."
VOVORAS, GEORGIOS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"First of all, I think that, for one more game, we started to feel the game late and in EuroLeague, when you make these mistakes in a row, they punish you. The EuroLeague is tough and I think they scored 26 points in the second quarter and 26 points in the last 20 minutes. We must find the way to start different, because otherwise, it will tough for us a lot of nights in away games. I think Crvena Zvezda had a big desire to win. They started the game very hard and we knew that from the beginning and we were not ready to match their aggressiveness, their toughness. And that was the key of the game. In the second quarter, we reacted and lost a lot of shots to put more pressure on Zvezda. In the end, we made 2-3 shots and it was a tied game, both teams could have won, but to be honest, Zvezda was, for more minutes, ready for this game. You can only see the next practice and after that, the next game. There is no time to think about the past, but find the way to change this mentality, this attitude that we have, especially in away games, in the first 20 minutes."

Players

WALDEN, COREY
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"We haven't smiled in a while. Again, not the prettiest, but I really don't give a damn. We needed it. I will take it right now, especially ending the year with a win, I will take that. The second half was not pretty, we could have definitely been better - turnovers, playing with an idea, playing smarter, offense and defense. We could have been better but again, I don't care, we got the win and we will celebrate. That's the whole thing, the pressure is on, the situation is tense, and you have to stay calm in that moment. I think we did to the best of our abilities today, right now, in this game, so I am happy."
KUZMIC, OGNJEN
Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade
"They have a great team, but we played good. We fought throughout the whole game and after the last game we lost in the Adriatic League, this was a big win for us. We kept fighting until the end and this was the key. We didn't give up."
PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"This is not a time for panic. We should each do our self-criticism and see how we can help through the overall work. In the second half, I fired some long shots, as did my other teammates. We generally approached the game better during this time. Obviously, we are in a difficult position, but we have to see our mistakes, see each one individually how it can be improved and overall, the improvement will come. Everyone has to see themself in the mirror. It's never too late."
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