The German side pulled out the victory in the dying minutes of the contest
Amadou Sow stars as no-quit Chemnitz comes back to beat Panionios
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 10 of 18
Regular Season
group b
NINERS ChemnitzNIN
7368
Panionios Cosmorama Travel AthensPAN
group b
Overview
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“It’s going to give us a lot of confidence going forward and I’m very proud of these guys,” said Rodrigo Pastore, whose NINERS Chemnitz team fought back to defeat Panionios Cosmorama Travel Athens on Tuesday night.
Pastore’s team took an early lead but couldn’t grab the opportunity to widen the gap substantially. Panionios went ahead in the second quarter and was able to hold on to the advantage quite comfortably until the final few minutes, when Chemnitz put together a gutsy comeback run. With just over a minute remaining, Corey Davis Jr. drained a corner three to put the hosts ahead. NINERS managed the game professionally in the closing moments, securing the 73-68 victory.
“There was a lot of offensive power in this Greek team, which we saw in the first half especially, but to have that consciousness that we can get stops in key moments of the game is something we haven’t showed lately,” Pastore stated.
The Argentinian coach’s sense of pride was accompanied by a sense of relief for his team, which he believes has worked hard to earn this success. He also took the time to big up the home crowd.
“They deserve a game like today. Also, our fans were our sixth man tonight.”
Amadou Sow played a starring role, adding 10 rebounds to his 19-point performance. His hulking physical play led to just his second-ever double-double in the EuroCup, while he finished with a PIR of 23.
“This was huge,” said Sow. “It speaks for the work ethic and what we did over the last couple of days to get ready. Our coaching staff did an amazing job and we managed to execute.”
Sow was quick to deflect any talk of his individual performance with praise for the wider Chemnitz unit.
“I give all credit to our coaching staff and my teammates. They keep believing in me, giving me the ball in the right spot, at the right time, and I’m making plays.”
The Malian big man wasn’t alone in inspiring the hosts to victory. Davis made impressive, crucial shots to serve as a catalyst for the comeback, finishing on 10 points for the night. Elsewhere, Kevin Yebo and Nike Sibande also finished in double figures. Jaylen Hands’s 19 points weren’t enough to win the game for Panionios.
While visiting coach Ilias Zouros was gracious in defeat, he had no doubt that his team was more deserving of the win.
“Congratulations to Chemnitz, congratulations to my players, because they played very good for 35 minutes,” said Zouros. “Unfortunately for the last 5 minutes, we lost concentration and we didn’t get the win that we deserved, because we deserved it – we played much better basketball today.”
The disappointing loss moves Zouros’s team to 1-9 in bottom place and makes it nine consecutive defeats to affirm its spot at the bottom of their group. Panionios will have a chance to bounce back when it hosts ratiopharm ulm next week. Chemnitz, which moved to 4-6 with this win, will face Lietkabelis Panevezys in a week’s time.
