Panathinaikos downed Armani Jeans 71-81

After a competitive game in which both teams showed the right attitude until the final buzzer, Panathinaikos took a valuable road win over AJ Milano on Thursday night by 71-81 in a Group D showdown. The Greens dominated during all the game but Milano never surrendered and managed to trim the deficit down to 64-67 in the first half of the last period. However, Mike Batiste appeared with 8 straight points for Panathinaikos to put things back in place as there was no time for the hosts to recover once more. With the win, the Greens improve to 4-1 to tie with Union Olimpija at the top of the ladder while Milano drops to 2-3. Dimitris Diamantidis led the way with 14 points while Milenko Tepic and Mike Batiste posted 13 apiece. For AJ Milano, David Hawkins had 15 points, Stefano Mancinelli added 14 and Morris Finley chipped in with 13.

Panathinaikos started with a 0-4 after points by Antonis Fotsis and Dimitris Diamantidis. But between Morris Finley and David Hawkins, AJ Milano managed to climb back to 5-6 soon. An early unsportsmanlike foul for Marius Petravicius was saved when Jonas Maciulis stole the ball to erase Diamatidis' free throws for the 7-10. Milano's defense was starting to make the Greens struggle at some points, but Diamantidis had some tricks up his sleeve as he beat the 24- second clock with an impossible three. However, the Lithuanian connection of Milano formed by Petravicius and Maciulis was keeping the hosts in the game after the former's bucket, 11-13. Both teams played with patience in offense, often finding good options for clean shots but Milenko Tepic got the upper hand with his five straight points making it 14-20 with 90 seconds to go. Great defense however allowed Marco Mordente to find himself open for a three that pumped the stands to make it a one-point game again, 19-20. There was time however for Drew Nicholas to beat the quarter buzzer with a three from the corner that made it 21-25 after 10 minutes.

Not much changed when the second period started. Both teams looked for good options in offense, always waiting for the right moment and, on top of that, they hit the long-range shots as Morris Finley and Romain Sato traded threes for the 26-30. Panathinaikos' defense drove it up a notch and AJ Milano wasnow having real difficulties to find a way to the rim. Tomas Van den Spiegel made his debut after having signed this week, to try to give the hosts some more consistency in the paint. Unfortunately for him however, Aleks Maric was also in the game starting to click with his teammates for four straight points including a huge dunk for 26-34. A technical foul called on coach Piero Bucchi allowed the lead to finally reach double digits for the guests, but the hosts didn't lower their arms. Finley rised again from the arc to hit the three to keep it below 10 points, but Kostas Tsartsaris slammed an offensive rebound to keep things in place. Milano improved defense but the guests managed to hold onto the double-digit lead and when Nicholas hit a new three for 34-46, both teams hit the lockerrooms for the halftime break.

Stefano Mancinelli put a start to the third period with four straight points of his own to make it 38-46. However, a slam by Fotsis and an open three from the top by Diamantidis took things back where they started for the 38-51. Il Mancio kept scoring for his team and Mason Rocca soon joined him from the bottom of the paint. Panathinaikos was clearly winning the rebounds battle 13-25 with more offensive rebounds than all the ones pulled by the hosts. That made up for the 14 turnovers at this point by the guests and when Tepic found the net with another wide open three, it was clear that Milano would have to turn the screws a little more on its rival in defense if the hosts wanted to take the win. Maric kept slamming away to add points to his column, and only Mancinelli appeared again in the quarter to steal and lift the layup to make it 46-56. When Maciulis and Hawkins appeared to blast threes and Mancinelli went to the floor trying to steal, the stands got electrified trying to turn the game around. So far, the hosts had managed to pull within 52-58. Nick Calathes entered a jungle of arms to set a layup that gave Panathinaikos some air, but Mancinelli hit twice from the line to make it 10 points for him in the quarter to keep distances. Tepic was still going strong in his best game of the season so far with a new three-point play and Nicholas joined him to make it 55-65 after 30 minutes.

The last period started in a good way for the hosts. Mason Rocca had five straight points with a three-point play and a steal to let Milano pull within 62-67 and Mancinelli joined the party with a reverse two-handed jam that made it a three-point game to make the crowd explode once more. Batiste stopped the Italian party with two free throws making it 64-69; he then slammed the ball after the Stratos Perperoglou assist in the middle of a zone defense to shut the stands. Batiste increased his personal count up to 8 points in a row to save Panathinaikos from a perseverant AJ Milano, 68-76 with two minutes to go. The hosts were starting to miss rather easy shots probably due to fatigue and when Sato hit two free throws to make it a double-digit lead again, the game seemed to be ready to become case closed. It was only confirmed when Fotsis blasted a 9-meter three-pointer that made it 71-81 and put the Greens out of reach for good.