Panathinaikos BC AKTOR cruised to an emphatic 101–63 road victory over AEK BC in a matchup for the 10th round of the regular season of the Stoiximan GBL. Top scorer for the Greens was Nikos Rogkavopoulos, who finished with 19 points.

The Greens made a strong start to the game, taking an early 9–2 lead in the 4th minute. AEK BC tried to respond and briefly cut the margin to 9–7 in the 5th minute, but a 10–0 run allowed the Greens to pull away for the first time to a double-digit lead (9–19) in the 6th minute, stretching the advantage to +21 (12–33) by the end of the opening quarter.

By the 12th minute, Panathinaikos BC AKTOR had opened up a massive 44–18 (+26) lead. In fact, from the moment the hosts had briefly closed the gap, the Greens went on a dominant 35–11 run. They continued to pull away relentlessly, extending the score to 51–22 in the 16th minute and 62–25 in the 19th, with the first half closing on a buzzer-beater three-pointer that made it 28–65 (+37).

AEK BC reduced the margin to 38–65 in the 23rd minute and 42–67 in the 26th, but Panathinaikos BC AKTOR remained in full control of the contest, pushing the lead back to +32 (48–80) by the 29th minute. The final quarter — much like the entire second half — was largely procedural, with the final 101–63 scoreline sealing the dominant performance for the Greens.

Quarters: 14–33, 28–65, 50–83, 63–101

Panathinaikos BC AKTOR (Ataman): Shorts 6, Kalaitzakis 5 (1), Sloukas 2, Rogkavopoulos 19 (5), Samodurov, Grant 13 (3), Nunn 9 (1), Toliopoulos 14 (3), Faried 4, Hernangomez 3 (1), Mitoglou 9, Yurtseven 17.

AEK BC (Sakota): Gray 10 (1), Skordilis, Clavel 1, Katsivelis 4, Flionis, Lekavicius 7, Arsenopoulos, Pekarski, Ioannou, Bartley 16 (4), Arms 6, Silva 19.

Ataman: “A good response from my players”

The head coach of Panathinaikos BC AKTOR, Ergin Ataman, spoke during the post-game Press Conference following the road win against AEK:

“We know that AEK BC are a strong team. Mentally, we prepared very well for this game, and the results were evident in the first half, where we played perfect basketball both defensively and offensively. We moved the ball well, found open shots, scored consistently and put up 65 points in the first half, which is excellent. We showed that when we play the right way, we have great potential.

In the second half, AEK BC came out more aggressively because of the large margin. We made some mistakes offensively, but we controlled the game and won an important road match in this atmosphere. 48 hours ago we lost to EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, so it was a good response from my players.”

Regarding Osman and Holmes, Ataman added: “I’m not sure about Osman and Holmes. Neither of them has played in the last five-six weeks, so we will see on Monday in practice whether they are in a condition to play in a EuroLeague game“.