The home team threw away a 19-point lead and then had the last laugh after snatching it at the death
Trento edges Panionios on Khalif Battle's buzzer-beater
Izveštaji utakmica
3 Min čitanja
Regular Season
Round 14 of 18
Regular Season
group b
Dolomiti Energia TrentoTRE
8887
Panionios Cosmorama Travel AthensPAN
group b
Overview
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Dolomiti Energia Trento scraped an 88-87 home win over Panionios Cosmorama Travel Athens to stay firmly in contention for a EuroCup postseason spot, improving to 8-6 in Group B while the Greek side dropped to 2-12 and remained rock bottom in Group B.
It was a game of two very different halves as Trento steamrolled through the first and led 49-30 shortly before the interval, only for Panionios to turn the matchup on its head in the second. Trailing 51-37 at halftime, the visitors led 64-69 at the end of the third quarter and maintained a 76-81 advantage with just a few minutes left on the clock.
Trento then found an extra gear to force the final twist and win by the skin of its teeth, with Khalif Battle emerging as the hero after he sank a tough buzzer-beating floater and was presented a bottle of champagne postgame for his efforts. The home side survived an almighty scare, however, as Panionios put its game face on in the second half and shot the lights out to finish on 11-of-25 from deep, having made only 1-of-7 in the first quarter.
Joe Thomasson, who joined the club less than a fortnight ago, was particularly lethal from mid-range and downtown, coming close to handing new coach Nenad Markovic a second successive win after Panionios had lost 10 in a row.
“I didn’t expect to win like this, but a win is a win and I am very happy that we continued our (progress) in the EuroCup,” Trento head coach Massimo Cancellieri said in his postgame comments. “At this point, with four games to go in the regular season, the important thing is to get the victory and that’s what we did. We threw away a big lead, but we stayed calm and poised, and it’s important for us to have won the game with the last shot. We were lucky this time.”
DJ Steward paced Trento with 16 points, despite shooting just 2-of-11 from inside, and Devante Jones overcame illness to rack up 11 points and 8 assists. His incisive drives to the basket made him a constant threat to the Panionios defense. Jordan Bayehe chipped in with 15 points and 6 boards for Trento, which next faces Lietkabelis Panevezys in a bid to strengthen its grasp on a postseason spot, with the Italian side currently in fifth place in Group B.
Delighted with Trento snatching victory from the jaws of what could have been a damaging defeat, Jones heaped praise on his teammates and particularly on Battle.
“We’ve got players like Khalif and DJ on our team and I’ve got so much faith in those guys,” he said. “Having Khalif here is a big blessing. The team did great, everybody did great and it’s a very important win for us. The next game is probably even more important, so we’ve got to be ready.”
Panionios head coach Nenad Markovic, who joined the Greek side on December 30, could only rue a missed opportunity to defy the odds and stage an upset, although he praised his team’s second-half effort, which had Trento reeling and hanging on for a fifth win in the last six games.
“That’s basketball. In the second half, we had the attitude we should have had from the beginning,” the Bosnian tactician said. “We played much better defense and controlled the rebounds; we found plenty of open shots, too. We fought hard and took the game to the last possession and in the end, they made that shot. Congratulations to them.”
