The reigning champ saw a 10-game home winning streak ended by an electric Paris performance
Paris stuns Panathinaikos in thriller, 98-101

A battle of last season’s champions saw BKT EuroCup king Paris Basketball triumph 98-101 on the road at Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titleholder Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in a memorable thriller. The French team improved to 18-14 for a share of sixth place, while the Greens are joint third at 20-12.
Paris dominated the first half with outstanding three-point shooting and led 48-56 at halftime. The advantage grew to 17 points by the end of the third, and although Panathinaikos tried to fight back it wasn’t enough as Juancho Hernangomez couldn’t make a triple to force overtime at the final buzzer.
TJ Shorts inspired Paris with 20 points, 14 assists and 9 rebounds, while Tyson Ward scored 17, Mikael Jantunen added 14 and Nadir Hifi netted 13. Leo Cavaliere (11) and Sebastian Herrera (10) also scored in double digits. Kendrick Nunn powered Panathinaikos with 22 points, 9 assists and 8 boards, while Kostas Sloukas had 20 points and 7 assists, and Hernangomez posted 10 points with 8 assists.
Ward, Hernagomez and Jantunen all hit early triples, and Wenyen Gabriel’s dunk made it 5-6. Panagiotis Kalaitzakis gave the hosts their first lead with a three-point play, but Bandja Sy struck from deep before Cavaliere, Yakuba Ouattara and Hifi all netted at the rim to send Paris ahead, 11-17. Lorenzo Brown responded with five fast points, but Hifi, Collin Malcolm and Shorts kept Paris in front before Ward hit a triple for an 18-28 lead. Herrera added another three-ball, and it was 23-33 after 10 minutes.
Sloukas and Cavaliere traded inside baskets before Herrera’s triple made it 25-38. Nunn scored two quick baskets but Paris kept on firing from deep through Jantunen and Hifi. Sloukas scored 7 points in a row to pull Panathinaikos back to 42-44, but Hifi and Ward were again accurate from long range. Grant and Shorts traded inside scores before Sloukas and Ward exchanged three-pointers and free throws made it 48-56 at the interval.
Paris’s long-range barrage continued early in the third through Herrera, then a long two from Shorts made it 50-63. Ward netted inside, Grant and Shorts traded triples, and the unstoppable Shorts added a three-point play for a 55-71 advantage. Nunn followed a three-ball with a layup before Cavaliere and Sloukas exchanged three-pointers. Nunn’s floater briefly reduced the deficit to single digits, but Ward and Shorts appeared again, and Cavaliere made it 69-86 with ten minutes left.
Triples from Nunn and Cedi Osman to start the final period gave Panathinaikos hope, and Nunn added a floater to force a Paris timeout at 77-86. Osman’s free throws completed a 10-0 run, which Shorts snapped with a driving layup. Sloukas’s three-ball was answered by Jantunen before Nunn, Hernangomez and Grant kept the home team’s momentum. It was 88-93 with 4 minutes left and Hifi added a three-pointer before free throws made it 90-98. Three-pointers from Osman and Hernangomez kept the hosts alive, but Jantunen scored free throws and Hernangomez’s prayer couldn’t force overtime at the final buzzer.