Greek Basket League round-up (week 11)

Holiday action in the Greek Basket League. The year ends with the best way possible for Panionios who stands alone second in the League table, taking advantage of Olympiacos and PAOK defeats. Full review of all the games beow:

Aris BC- Ikaros Chalkidas 84-67

Paraskeuas Mouratidis’ debut to Aris bench was the ideal one since his team got the momentum going, this time defeating Ikaros Chalkidas. They dominated from the first quarter of the match, having good ball movement and got ahead 18-13 after 10 minutes of play. Ikaros tried to hold on to the game, but could not really get close since their opponents had solutions for every problem. The halftime score was 36-28.

The home side started the second half and had in mind to end the game, something they managed since at the end of the 3^rd they were leading 60-45, as a result for great defensive plays. The last quarter was Ikaros’ last chance to return to the game but they wasted it since they seemed tired and disappointed after the previous bad quarter. MVP of the game was Giannis Athinaiou who scored 28 points, while Asca had 23 for the defeated side.

A.O. Trikala- Panelefsiniakos 70-59

Trikala took advantage of their homecourt, had good flow from the first minute and finally got a very important win against Panelefsiniakos. Trikala defended well and forced their opponents to commit many turnovers, and as a result the first quarter came to an end 17-12. All they had to do was to score better, something they achieved during the 2^nd and the lead increased to 13 (38-25) at halftime

The away team attempted to make a comeback during the second half, managed to slightly reduce the lead, but as soon as Trikala tightened up their defense, the difference reached the 14 points, 54-40 after 30 minutes of basketball. The fans gave their team the boost they needed and Trikala did not allow Panelefsiniakos to try and cut the lead again, securing the win early on. For the winners who shared the rock offensively, Deligiannis was the only player to reach double-digit points (12), while Turner had 14 for the away team.

A.E.Nea Kifissia- Apollon Patron 72-54

An emphatic win for Kifissia, this time against Apollon Patras. For another game, coach Papatheodorou’s team defended extremely well, and as a result they allowed their opponents only 10 points in the 1^st quarter (21-10). After  their good start, AENK focused on their offense, put the ball inside the paint, but Apollon bounced back, even used full court press and closed the gap to 6 ( 32-26) to end the half.

After the break, Kifissia returned to play defense once again, forcing many turnovers and getting easy points. As a result, they extended their lead to 15 (52-37). For second consecutive game, the home team allowed 54 points, and got a relatively easy win that not only distanced them from the relegation zone, but brought them to the 7^th position and now aiming for a play-off spot. Ex- Greek national team captain Michalis Kakiouzis was the leader for his team since he scored 10 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and had 3 assists in 37 minutes of play, but most important he committed no turnovers. Wilson had 15 for Apollon.

Panionios- A.G.O. Rethymno 74-66

5^TH win in a row for Panionios who achieved to bounce back after the cup elimination, having the fans on their side. The home team had good flow in the offense but their defense was weak, allowing Rethymno to stay close for 10 minutes (21-19). However during the second quarter they forced Cretans to many missed shot under bad conditions, allowed them to score only 9 points and the half came to a close 39-28.

However AGOR did not gave up, took advantage of Panionios bad return from the break and cut the lead to 7. From then on Panionios’ captain Marios Batis stepped up and with 6 points in a row gave his team the boost they needed to close the 3^rd quarter leading 66-53. All the home side had to do was to maintain the lead and secure the win. Since they were superior throughout the game, they faced no difficulties against Rethymno and finally got the win, that brought them second to the league table. McCollum scored 19 for the winners, and climbed first to the top scorer’s ranking with 17,4 points per game. Gabriel, Kalampokis and Koumpouras had 11 for AGOR .

Pantahinaikos- PAOK 81-61

Panathinaikos ended the year the best way possible. After eliminating their rivals, Olympiacos for the Greek Cup, this time dominated against PAOK who started the season well, but did not continue this way. The first 10 minutes of the game were promising since PAOK forced Panathinaikos to play slow- paced basketball and finally got the lead 16-20. But coach Pedoulakis brought his team together, and all they needed was a decent quarter to get a good lead for the upcoming half. The “Greens” defended physically and scored many fast-break points, closing the half leading 44-33.

PAOK did their best from the beginning of the  second half, but had no solutions from the bench, allowing Panathinaikos to stay in front without the away side threatening them. 63-53 was the score after 30’. The 4^th quarter totally belonged to Panathinaikos since their opponents ran out of energy, so the Greek Champions gave some highlight material to their fans and got an easy win. Lasme had 14 for the winning side, while Tsairelis scored 15 for PAOK.

Ilissiakos- Kolossos Rhodes 74-62

Ilissiakos managed to take the win in the most important game of the season thus far for them. The home team was positioned at the bootom of the League table and it was kind of a final for them, so they did their best to dominate right from the jump ball. They outplayed their opponents inside the paint, collected almost every rebound and the score of the first quarter was 26-11. Kolossos slightly recovered and tried to cut the lead by improving their game in every aspect. The score of the half was 40-31.

Usually Kolossos start numb the second half, and so did this time, giving Ilissiakos the chance to recover and take the upper hand to the game again, 60-45. Kolossos committed 17 turnovers overall and got 26 rebounds in total, 10 less than their opponents. As a result the home side dominated and got another chance to save the season. Man of the match was Anderson who scored 29, Smith scored 13 for the “Rhodians”

K.A.O. Dramas- Olympiacos 75-69

The big surprise of the week took place in Drama, where the local team outplayed Olympiacos and forced him to the second consecutive defeat, after the Cup game against Panathinaikos. The “Reds” started the game well, made good offensive choices and managed to get a 16-20 lead before the first quarter break. Brown was in good shape and helped his team recover, while the defensive work Nenad Markovic’s players did was great, giving KAOD the lead (37-36) before the break.

Olympiacos tried to get a good difference and secure the win, but their opponents defended very well, not allowing coach Bartzokas’ team to play their game. The 3^rd quarter came to an end 55-58. Brown had an one-man-show bringing the difference to +7 twice, the European Champions tried to close the gap but they did not achieve to threaten KAOD, that recorded the most important win of their history. Brown was MVP of the game, with 25 points with 3 rebounds, while Lojeski had 17 for the defeated side.