Baskonia blasts Panathinaikos

TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz made it a perfect week with a 93-72 blowout of Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on Wednesday at Buesa Arena. The hosts outscored the Greens 43-23 over the final 15 minutes to claim the victory and take their record to 4-4. Panathinaikos lost its fourth straight game to fall to 2-6 on the season. Alec Peters and Luca Vildoza scored 19 points apiece to pace the home team. Pierria Henry tallied 14 points and a career-high 12 assists for his first career double-double. Rokas Giedraitis added 12 points and Tonye Jekiri posted 10 points and 10 rebounds. Ioannis Papapetrou paced Panathinaikos with 17 points, Nemanja Nedovic added 15 points and 5 assists and Georgios Papagiannis had 11 points and 10 boards.

Nedovic took charge at the start with a pair of three-pointers sandwiched around 2 alley-oop assists to Papagiannis in grabbing a 2-10 lead. Zoran Dragic jumpstarted the hosts by dishing an assist to Vildoza, drawing an offensive foul and sinking a layup to help close the gap. A three by Vildoza capped a 9-0 run to give Baskonia its first lead, 11-10. The teams traded shots for the next few minutes before a three-point play by Papapetrou and Aaron White's fastbreak gave the Greens a 5-point lead. Shelvin Mack's unsportsmanlike foul on Henry allowed the latter to trim the gap to 20-23 after 10 minutes. Peters scored 5 quick points in another Baskonia 9-0 run to put the hosts up 4. Panathinaikos briefly regained the lead on a Leonidas Kaselakis triple, but a red-hot Peters shot Baskonia to 39-33. Ilimane Diop scored on back-to-back possessions to take the margin to double figures. Papapetrou connected from behind the arc to make it 46-39 at the break.

Panathinaikos came out hungry for the start of the second half with Papagiannis scoring twice on the offense glass and Dinos Mitoglou doing so as well to rally the visitors to 50-49, as which Baskonia called timeout. Vildoza came to Baskonia's rescue with back-to-back threes to make it 60-53. A three and a short jumper by Peters restored a double-digit lead before Marcus Foster beat the third-quarter buzzer with a layup that made it 66-58. Threes by Vildoza and Peters continued to grow the Baskonia lead which reached 20 after back-to-back threes by Henry. Giedraitis added another 2 triples as the margin peaked at 87-63. Papapetrou and Nedovic continued the Panathinaikos fight, but the outcome was already decided as Baskonia marched to a convincing victory.

Pivotal player

Among the many players who stood tall for Baskonia, Pierria Henry shined bright with 14 points and a career-best 12 assists, which was 1 away from the club record. Henry went for 12 points and 8 assists in the second half alone as Baskonia pulled away for the win. It was the third time Henry had ever reached double figures in assists, but it was his first EuroLeague double-double.

Game-changing shots

After Panathinaikos took charge on the offensive glass with 6 second-chance points in a 2-10 run to get within 50-49 midway through the second quarter, Baskonia heated up from downtown. Luca Vildoza nailed a pair of threes and then Alec Peters drained back-to-back threes late in the third quarter to make it 66-56. Vildoza and Peters each added another early in the fourth and Pierria Henry hit 2 more. In a 10-minute span, the team shot 8 for 11 from downtown and outscored the visitors 30-11 to clinch the victory.

Telling numbers

Baskonia outshot Panathinaikos from all distances, making 20 of 28 two-point shots (71.4%) and 13 of 29 threes (44.8%). The hosts also outrebounded Panathinaikos 36-27, which led to a 15-6 advantage in fastbreak points.

What's next?

Baskonia heads on the road next week to take on Olympiacos Piraeus on Thursday, November 26. Panathinaikos hosts FC Bayern Munich the next day.