Panathinaikos qualified for the quarter-finals of the Euroleague as winners of Group G thanks to a 68-63 road win at Unics Kazan.
The Athens outfit will now face Maccabi Electra and have home court advantage in the last-eight, in what will be a repeat of last year’s final which Panathinaikos won.
Dimitris Diamantidis, who won the Euroleague MVP award last season was surprisingly left on the bench in Kazan, but still managed to score nine points. Mike Batiste led Panathinaikos with 12 points, assisted by veteran Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius’ 10.
Unics, who lost their first home game in five matches were led by Henry Domercant’s 19 points.
“We have expected a very difficult and a very tough game, because we know, that Unics is a very good team and we had the experience of playing them in Athens,” Panathinaikos coach Zeljko Obradovic said.
For Kazan, they had to win to ensure qualification to the last-eight, but despite their defeat, they still advanced as Fenerbahce lost in Italy to already eliminated EA7 Milano 85-72.
Malik Hairston poured in a game-high 27 points, as Milano end their Euroleague campaign on a high winning their last three games, finishing in third spot. Emir Preldizic paced Fenerbahce with 15 points overall.
Group H finishes up.
The night’s Group H encounters were all dead-rubbers, as all four teams knew their fate before the final round of games began.
Barcelona defeated Maccabi Electra at the Palau Blaugrana 70-67 to become the only side in the Top 16 with a perfect 6-0 record.
Pete Mickeal led Barca with 20 points, while Richard Hendrix led all scorers in vain for Maccabi with 24. The latter also pulled down 10 rebounds.
Zalgiris and Bennet Cantu fought in Kaunas with both sides already knowing their fate and it was the visitors from Italy who away with a 77-71 victory to leave the Lithuanian side 0-6 in the Top 16.
