Panathinaikos Athens returned to winning ways in the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by downing Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz at OAKA Altion on Friday.
Williams, Bacon lead Panathinaikos past Baskonia
The Greens beat Baskonia 98-83 to improve its record to 2-5. Derrick Williams and Dwyane Bacon led the winners with 16 points apiece, while Mateusz Ponitka (15), Marius Grigonis (13), Paris Lee (12) and Georgios Papagiannis (11) all scored 10 points or more. Papagiannis added 11 rebounds for a double-double. Markus Howard had 20 points for Baskonia, who sees its record drop to 4-3. Maik Kotsar and Matt Costello added 14 and 10 points, respectively. This victory for Panathinaikos breaks its four-game losing streak.
Game Videos
Howard and Kotsar helped Baskonia get out to an early 6-12 lead. Williams and Bacon fueled an 11-0 run to put Panathinaikos in charge, 22-18, after 10 minutes. Howard and Darius Thompson allowed Baskonia to get a 30-36 lead midway through the second quarter. Williams dunked twice and Bacon remained unstoppable, but Pierria Henry and Kotsar kept Baskonia ahead, 38-43, at halftime. Panathinaikos found a go-to guy in Papagiannis, who protected his team's paint and provided a spark on offense. He got help from Williams, Bacon and Lee to give the Greens a 67-59 lead after 30 minutes. Grigonis and Arturas Gudaitis boosted Panathinaikos's lead to 85-74 with under 4 minutes left, allowing the local fans to celebrate long before the final buzzer sounded.