Paris Basketball strengthened its late-season push with a 104-99 road win over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens on Thursday at the Telekom Center Athens, leading for the final 27 minutes and controlling the tempo throughout.
The result lifted Paris to 11-18 and handed the Greens their seventh loss in the last 11 EuroLeague games, a stretch that has put pressure on their hold on a top-10 spot.
The night marked the EuroLeague return of Nigel Hayes-Davis, who scored 27 points in his debut for Panathinaikos nine months after earning Final Four MVP honors with Fenerbahce. His late surge nearly flipped the script, but the hosts could not complete the comeback.
Paris dictated terms early with a 2-10 first-quarter run and knocked down 6 of its first 10 three-point attempts. By halftime, the French side had hit 10-of-22 from beyond the arc to build a 45-58 lead.
The visitors finished 17-for-36 from three-point range, good for 47.2 percent, and placed five players in double figures. Ball movement was sharp, as evidenced by 23 assists on 35 made field goals.
Nadir Hifi once again set the tone offensively with 20 points on 4-of-7 shooting from deep, keeping pace in the race for the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy.
Panathinaikos shot 62.5 percent on two-pointers and went 25-for-29 from the free-throw line, but struggled from distance at 8-for-27. The absence of Kendrick Nunn, who missed the game through illness, again impacted spacing and shot creation.
Hayes-Davis sparked hope with 11 points in a two-minute burst late in the fourth quarter and had a three-point attempt in the final 10 seconds to tie or win, but the shot missed. Head coach Ergin Ataman was ejected after protesting the no-call on the play.
Paris now hosts Baskonia next week, while Panathinaikos faces Olympiacos in a crucial Greek derby.
