Panionios On Telecoms edged Asco Slask Wroclaw 92-94 thanks to a pair of Dusan Sakota free throws in Group G on Tuesday in Wroclaw, Poland. The game was even throughout and accuracy from the foul line made the difference in the last minute. Panionios now shares third place in Group G with Slask with 4-3 records, though Panionios now controls the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping the season series from Slask. Next week Panionios travels to Asvel, while Slask visits winless Ludwigsburg. Sakota and Ioannis Kalampokis led the winners with 20 points apiece and Ivan Zoroski, who also was decisive in the clutch, nailed 19. Anatans Kavaliauskas added 15 and Brad Newley scored 10 for the winning side. Dawan Robinson was the main contributor for Asco Slask with 17 points, Jared Homan added 16, Torrell Martin scored 12 and grabbed 9 rebounds, Kamil Chanas had 12 points and Domink Tomczyk collected 11.
Rashid Atkins nailed a pull-up jumper to give Slask an 11-6 margin after four minutes played, but Kavaliauskas’s three-point play gave Panionios its first advantage, 11-12. Sakota from downtown gave a 19-23 cushion to the visitors, which Martin cut to 22-23 with a three at the first-quarter buzzer. Kalampokis made it 26-30 before Radolaw Hyzy pulled down an offensive board to find 2 easy points and tie things at 32-32. Levon Kendall and Homan maintained the scoring balanced, 38-38 with two minutes left before the break. Vasilios Xanthopoulos posted a three and Atkins hit a pickup jumper to fix the score at 41-44 for Panionios at halftime. Martin opened the fire in the third quarter, but was answered by Kavaliauskas, with Panionios still ahead, 43-46. Chanas hit a long-distance shot to give to Slask a slim advantage, but Sakota capped a 9-0 run for the guests to stay in front 50-58. At the other end, Chanas and Martin were perfect from the foul line by as Slask tied it on 61-61. The hosts continued their march and took a 66-61 lead on Oliver Stevic’s mid-range jumper, which capped an 11-0 charge. However the third quarter finished 66-66 with the last basket from downtown nailed by Zoroski for Panionios. Zoroski was still on fire, and his 4 consecutive points gave a 68-71 margin to the guests. Stevic then changed the leading team, but was answered by Sakota from downtown for another Panionios advantage. With less than four minutes remaining, Robinson tied the score again at 78-78 and everything was ready for a thrilling final. Kavaliauskas gave a 78-82 cushion to Panionios, Atkins was perfect from the foul line to keep Slask alive, but Zoroski again from downtown seemed to put the game on the visitors’ side. When Kalampokis scored 2 more, the guests led 80-87 with just a minute to go. The hosts called timeout to organize the last assault, Robinson got it closer to 85-88, Zoroski missed 2 free throws, while Robinson was perfect to make it 89-90. Chanas fouled again Zoroski, but this time he posted both his attempts, which were copied by Robinson to make it 91-92. Sakota did not miss the last 2 free throws, while Robinson scores just one and Homan missed both leaving the win to Panionios.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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