By Alkis Spyrou
ASSECO PROKOM – PAO: 60 – 67 (18-16, 6-20, 13-11, 23-20)
OLIVIA SPORT HALL
PAO’s players “wasted” the 1st quarter to acclimatise them in the freezing cold of Gdynia in the south coast of the Baltic coast. But once they did, there was no way back. The Greek champions started very strongly and took a 2-7 lead but the Polish came back. With an ex-PAO player, Patrick Burke, they took advantage of the home court and balanced the game. But Obradović’s team had to turn to their renowned attacking defence to take a +12 lead (24-36) at the end of the 1st half; following a 2-11 streak. Prokom came back again and equalised 50-50 and 52-52 in the 4th quarter but Diamanitids took over and lead his team to the win and a 4-1 record. Diamantidis had 15 points, 5 assists and 4 steals while Pekovic added 12. For the home team (that moved to 2-3 record) David Logan had 16 points and Burke 11.
LE MANS – OLYMPIAKOS: 93 – 98 (29-19, 23-22, 21-27, 14-19, 6-11)
ANTARES
Extra-time was required to separate the two teams and the Reds came on top. Lynn Greer had a splendid game with 26 points and led his team to a 4-1 record. He made both free throws to even the score at 87-87 with 3.9 seconds to go and at overtime their defence made the rest of the work. Bourousis dominated inside with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Hallperin added 15 points. For the home team Spencer had 19 points and Bluthenthal posted 18.
Le Mans started off on the gas as they took an impressive 24-10 lead. But the Greek team came back (?!) and made it 29-19 at the end of the 1st quarter. The half ended in the same pattern and the 52 points scored by the French stated the obvious! Yannakis tried to shuffle the team and that made the difference as they took the lead in the dying minutes. Chase made it 87-85 but Greer equalised. In overtime Bourousis and Vasilopoulos (4/4 free throws) secured the 4th win and a happy visit to France.
ARMANI JEANS MILANO – PANIONIOS ON TELECOMS: 77 – 73 (18-17, 18-21, 26-18, 15-17)
FORUMNET
Inexperienced Panionios did not manage to hold their nerves and handed Milano their 1st win. Hawkins led the Italians with 18 points and 6 steals and got a helping hand from Rocca (16 pts + 10 rebounds). Miles had an excellent game for the Greek team (16 points, 5 assists and 2 steals) and Raitsevits added 14 points.
Common sense and good choices gave Trifunovic’s team the lead 20-30 and 43-49 but up until half-way through the 3rd quarter. Tiredness and some tough shots by Hawkins-Hall made it 62-56 at the start of the 4th. Kendall restored the lead (62-63 and 70-71) but only briefly. Kalampokis and Zorovski missed some open-usual shots and Rocca with a basket-foul made it 77-73 in 42’’. The end!
In Group A (Olympiakos’ group), Cibona (4-1) overcame Air Avellino (2-3) 72-69 in Zagreb (Calloway 14pts, Kus 23 pts – Warren 20 pts, Williams 12pts). Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv (2-3) lost home 73-80 to Unicaja Malaga (3-2) and did not welcome Pini Gershon back to team in the best possible way (Brown 13 pts, 4 assists, Arroyo 14 pts, 6 rebounds, 5 assists – Kelati 23 pts, Jimenez 15 pts, 7 rebounds).
In Group B (PAO’s group), Montepaschi Siena (4-1) thrashed SLUC Nancy (1-4) 86-63 in Italy (McIntyre 16 pts, Sato 13 pts, 5rebs, 4 steals – Julian 21pts, 7 rebs, 3 steals, Morandais 10 pts). Regal FC Barcelona made it a three-way tie on top of the group (4-1) after beating 60-75 Zalgiris (0-5) in Lithuania (Woods 18 pts, Jankunas 17 pts – Lakovic 22 pts, Navarro 14 pts, 5 assists).
In Group C DKV Joventut (2-3) made the surprise of the night as they beat TAU Ceramica (3-2) 105-100 behind the 24 pts from Hernandez-Sonseca and 17 from Mallet. For TAU Splitter had 23 pts and Rakosevic and Teletovic from 18 a piece. Lottomatica Roma (4-1) tops the group as they beat home 76-67 Fenerbahnce Ulker (3-2). Hutson poured in 26 points while De La Fuente added 11 points and 11 rebounds. For the Turks, Turkcan had a double-double (21-15). In the last match of the group, in Slovenia, Union Olimpija (1-4) shrugged off Alba Berlin (2-3) 77-69 (Zupan 19 pts – Wright 19 pts)
Finally, defending champions CSKA Moscow remained the only undefeated team (5-0) as they narrowly beat Partizan (2-3) away 62-63 in Belgrade (Tepic 14 pts, Velickovic 10 pts – Planinic 11pts, Lorbek 11pts); for Group D. Real Madrid (3-2) easily defeated away Efes Pilsen (2-3) 81-95 (Smith 22 pts, 5 steals, Vujanic 18 pts – Hosley 24 pts, Massey 17 pts, 7 rebs).
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