


EA7 Emporio Armani Milan celebrated a fourth successive EuroLeague win with a 78-76 home victory over Panathinaikos Athens, handing the Greens' new head coach Christos Serelis a tough loss in his EuroLeague debut. Center Brandon Davies came off the bench to produce a superb individual performance with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor to lead the winners. Shabazz Napier also netted 16 points, having sank 4 of 6 three-pointers, Nicolo Melli chipped in with 14 points -including the game-winning free throws - and 7 rebounds while Stefano Tonut scored 11.
Derrick Williams paced Panathinaikos with a game-high 21 points, but he netted only 4 in the second half. Dwayne Bacon scored 14 points, having made only 1 of 7 three-pointers, while Paris Lee added 13 points and 6 assists for the visitors. Georgios Papagiannis had 10 points and 5 rebounds. Milan improved to 9-15 and kept alive its hopes of making the playoffs while Panathinaikos dropped to 8-17.
With Serelis demanding a reaction from his players after taking over from Dejan Radonjic last week, Panathinaikos came out full of intent and purpose to lead 13-8 lead in the first quarter before the hosts managed to slash their deficit down to 20-21 at the end of the opening period.
Napier, playing his third game for Milan after joining the Italian side last month, was instrumental in the first quarter alongside Melli, while Davies and Tonut took over in the second. Davies provided a counterweight to Papagiannis at both ends in the paint while Tonut was lethal from mid-range, keeping Milan in the driving seat as Williams shined for the visitors on offense. It was 40-39 at halftime.
Milan kept nosing ahead in the third quarter and with Williams subdued, Panathinaikos found it tough to find the right rhythm in offense although it managed to stay in touch thanks to solid defense and some efficient set plays.
Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, Davies tormented his markers in the paint with his physicality and the ability to finish at the rim, as Milan gained a seemingly unassailable 76-70 lead in the closing stages. However, the game went down to the wire after the Greens scored 6 unanswered points, forcing a dramatic climax. Melli was ice-cool from the foul line on the home team’s last possession and after a timeout, Bacon came up short with a tough baseline jumper in the dying seconds, sending the vocal home fans into raptures.