PAOK opens season with victory in 2OT thriller in Izmir

PAOK Thessaloniki impressed in its Eurocup season-opener by escaping from Izmir with an 81-87 double overtime win over host Pinar Karsiyaka, in Group F. PAOK tied Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and Ventpsils for the first place in the table. PAOK’s Marc Carter forced the game to the first extra session, then Baris Hersek pulled down an offensive rebound and scored to tie it at 73-73 and force the game to the second overtime. Kevin Langford tied things at 77-77 and a 5-0 run for the visitors gave them a margin they kept till the final buzzer. Jake Odum was the main contributor for PAOK with 22 points, Kostas Charalampidis netted 19, Carter posted 14 points and 9 rebounds and Evangelos Margaritos bagged 10 in victory. Juan Palacios led all scorers with 29 points and 10 rebounds for a performance index rating of 30 in defeat and Bobby Dixon amassed 25 points with 6 assists for Karsiyaka.

After a balanced 9-9 start, Kenny Gabriel hit a three for a 16-10 margin for the hosts, before Odum scored 5 consecutive points that made it 16-19 for PAOK. Jon Diebler’s mid-range jumper put the home team in front 22-21. Odum twice gave a slim margin to the visitors, before Dixon scored three layups to give a 30-26 advantage to Karsiyaka at halftime. Dixon gave a 37-29 margin to Karsiyaka early in the third quarter, then DJ Strawberry extended it to double figures, 41-31, and the hosts seemed to be ready to control the game by keeping a comfortable margin before Charalmpidis cut it to 49-44 after through quarters. A Palacios jumper allowed the home team to get within 62-53 at the midway point of the last quarter, but a final 4-13-4 run with 7 points from Charalampidis tied the score. Carter gave the first advantage to PAOK at 71-73 then Hersek tied it and in the second extra session the visitors took the momentum to escape with a great success.