Greek side defense holds strong
Panathinaikos downs Bahcesehir for first victory
Game Report
3 Mins read
U18 Panathinaikos Athens grabbed its first win of the Adidas Next Gen EuroLeague Istanbul by knocking off host side U18 Bahcesehir College Istanbul 66-52 in Group A. The Greek team had an answer for any comeback attempt and improved to 1-1. Georgios-Angelos Tsakiris was the top scorer for the winners with 18 points, Christos Georgas had 14 points and Evangelos Bousmpouras chipped in 4 points, 5 rebounds 13 assists and 3 steals. Ahmet Aydin totaled 16 points and 15 rebounds in the loss, which dropped Bahcesehir to 1-1 in the group.
The game was knotted 8-8 when Panathinaikos went on a 12-0 run to pull ahead 20-8. Bahcesehir stopped the momentum and was down 26-18 after the first quarter. The host side trimmed the gap to 28-24, but Filip Mantsits hit back-to-back three-pointers and Panathinaikos was up 41-31. The Greek team had a 43-34 lead at halftime.
Panathinaikos used the three-pointer to keep Bahcesehir at arm’s length with Tsakiris and Georgas making it a 13-point lead multiple times. And the Greek side led 53-43 after three quarters. Bahcesehir was down 11 points with under 8 minutes to play but Panathinaikos scored the next six points and held the home side scoreless for 5 minutes to take a 65-47 lead.
