With Will Clyburn reaching 1500 points in Euroleague, CSKA Moscow left Athens with the win over Panathinaikos, 83-89, on Friday night (6/11). Panathinaikos wanted that game and fought for it but that was not enough to steal the win from CSKA who had a great offensive night, especially from the three-point line, in Mike James’ return at OAKA.
Nemanja Nedovic was the top scorer for the hosts with 19 points with Ioannis Papapetrou adding 13. For CSKA, Will Clyburn was the top scorer with 15 points with Darrun Hilliard adding 14.
The Match
CSKA started the first quarter pretty strong with a three-point shot from Hilliard and two free throws from Shengelia (0-5) to show Panathinaikos they travelled to Athens having nothing but the win in mind. Panathinaikos’ zone defense in the first minutes didn’t seem to put much pressure to the Russians, with Shengelia doing the job for CSKA. Coach Itoudis saw his players getting a double-digit lead (3-15) with Darrun Hilliard firing for three. Panathinaikos was really struggling in the offensive end, but some big shots from White and Bochoridis, got the “Greens” back on the game to end the first quarter with both teams tied (24-24).
In the second quarter, CSKA retained their lead with a big shot from Strelnieks from deep and an impressive cooperation between Mike James and Johannes Voigtmann (26-33), forcing Panathinaikos to a time-out. Mike James kept firing from all over the court against his former club, putting extra pressure on the “Green” side (26-36). The Russians managed to keep their league until the end of the quarter and head to the locker rooms leading by nine points, (42-51).
Panathinaikos came back from the locker rooms determined to fight for the game and steal the win from CSKA. The “Greens” managed to make it a single point game (52-53) despite the fact that the team was trailing by nine in the end of the first half. CSKA played good defense, fought for every ball and every rebound and retained a short six-point lead (52-58) and ended the third quarter in the leading position, 58-65.
In the fourth and final quarter, CSKA played great defense against Panathinaikos, dominated the offensive rebounds and opened up a confident 13-point lead. Panathinaikos was struggling defensively giving the Russians the chance to score on the other end of the court and secure the road win, 83-89.
