Panathinaikos Athens secured an impressive road win on Friday night by downing Zalgiris Kaunas 67-81, making it three straight wins for the resurgent Greek giant, which improves to 5-6. Zalgiris lost its unbeaten home record and drops to 6-5.
Panathinaikos grabs third straight win by overcoming Zalgiris, 67-81
A near-perfect first quarter saw Panathinaikos establish a double-digit lead, which was extended to 18-36 midway through the second. Zalgiris found its offense towards the end of the third quarter and came back to make it 58-62, but Panathinaikos had enough resolve to pull clear again and enjoy a comfortable finale. Derrick Williams was the inspiration was 26 points, while Dwayne Bacon added 19 points and Nate Wolters scored 11. Keenan Evans paced Zalgiris with 18 points.
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Panathinaikos raced into an early double-digit lead, 6-16, with six different players getting on the scoreboard. Two baskets from Arturas Gudaitis stretched the lead by the end of the first, before Bacon netted three times to make it 18-36. Ignas Brazdeikis and Tyler Cavanaugh hit a triple apiece to make it a little closer at the break, 28-44. Williams scored 8 points early in the third to maintain a comfortable lead, 36-54, but Evans inspired a 12-0 run to bring Zalgiris back, 48-54. It was 58-62 early in the fourth, but Panathinaikos regained control as Williams scored 5 more points. That was enough to seal the win as Zalgiris ran out of energy.