Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens overcame a sluggish start to hold off Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz, relying on solid team defense to earn an 80-76 home victory and improve to 14-8. Baskonia, which dropped to 10-12, led by 7 in the first quarter, but a flurry of triples from Kenny Gabriel soon sent the host ahead and Panathinaikos extended the gap to 18 as the visitors scored just 31 points in the middle two quarters. Although Baskonia rallied in the final stages, the mountain was too steep to climb and Panathinaikos held on. Gabriel was joined on 15 points by James Gist to lead the home team’s scoring, while Nick Calathes led the offense brilliantly with 7 points and 12 assists. Nikos Pappas scored 12 points, and Chris Singleton added 10 points and 9 rebounds. The visitors were led by 15 points apiece from Toko Shengelia and Rodrigue Beaubois, while all 12 of Matt Janning’s points came on triples and Johannes Voigtmann combined 11 points and 8 rebounds.
PHOTOS
