Ergin Ataman's men are joint second in the standings
Panathinaikos wins in dramatic finale at Virtus, 77-82
In a highly-entertaining game that went down to the wire, Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens pulled out a 77-82 win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna on Friday night. Panathinaikos improved to 7-3 on the season, while Virtus dropped to a 2-8 record, tied for the worst in the league.
The two teams traded blows for 40 minutes, and the biggest lead of the game was the Greens' 32-40 margin in the second quarter. In the exciting closing moments, it was Jerian Grant and Mathias Lessort who delivered key punches for Panathinaikos. Kendrick Nunn paced the winners with 20 points, Lessort had 16 and 8 rebounds, Grant finished with 11 points and Kostas Sloukas scored 10. Will Clyburn had 18 points, and Toko Shengelia added 17 for Virtus, while Isaia Cordinier collected 12 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in a losing effort.
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The two teams' defenses were in control early – Shengelia on one end and Konstantinos Mitolgou on the other each scoring 5 points, including a triple apiece, to make it 6-6. Clyburn hit a three-pointer that started a flood of baskets, with Diouf scoring twice for the hosts. Meanwhile, Lessort and Nunn combined for 13 points for the Greens before Lessort delivered a pair of dunks and Nunn a triple. But Clyburn finished the quarter with a coast-to-coast dunk that made it 18-19 after 10 minutes.
Close-range baskets from Cordinier and Ante Zizic capped an 8-0 Virtus run, but a corner triple from Ioannis Papapetrou tied it at 22-22. Omer Yurtseven and Achille Polonara traded big dunks, then four consecutive three-pointers from Panathinaikos, two by Nunn and one apiece by Sloukas and Grant, helped open a 32-40 margin. After Cordinier and Yurtseven traded triples, then Alessandro Pajola and Sloukas exchanged threes to keep the margin at 8 points, only for Clyburn to finish the half with 5 points in the final 10.8 seconds, including a last-second three to make it 43-46 at the break.
A three-pointer from Papapetrou extended it to 47-53 as baskets became few and far between. Clyburn and Pajola had a layup apiece, but Mitoglou hit a three-pointer. Virtus got within 55-56 before a scoreless stretch of nearly 3 minutes without a basket, and there was a single field goal on each side – a layup by Juancho Hernangomez and Clyburn – in the final 4:30 of the quarter, as Panathinaikos held 58-60 after 30 minutes.
Shengelia opened the fourth for Virtus with a three-pointer, and his and Polonara's energy carried the hosts. A dunk by Polonara and corner triple by Daniel Hackett made it 68-66 midway through the fourth. But Lessort scored inside and followed that score with a tip-in. Shengelia's tip-in tied it at 72-72, which is when Grant stepped up. He first nailed a step-back three-pointer, then fed Lessort for a dunk 26 seconds before the end, 74-77. Virtus had a chance thanks to a triple from Clyburn, and Nunn only split free throws with 6 seconds to go, but Hernangomez grabbed the offensive board and scored to seal the deal.