Valencia Basket recorded its third home win of the season by downing Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 95-83 at la Fonteta on Tuesday.
Valencia outlasts Panathinaikos at home
Game Report
1 min read
Valencia Basket recorded its third home win of the season by downing Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 95-83 at la Fonteta on Tuesday. Valencia improved to 5-3 in the standings while Panathinaikos dropped to 2-5. Klemen Prepelic led the winners with 18 points. Derrick Williams added 14, Martin Hermannsson had 13 while Mike Tobey and Fernando San Emeterio each got 11 for Valencia. Shelvin Mack led Panathinaikos with 15 points. Ioannis Papapetrou, Howard-Sant Roos and Dinos Mitoglou each added 11 for the guests. Valencia led 45-41 at halftime, kept a 70-66 margin after 30 minutes and sealed the game midway through the fourth quarter.
Regular Season
Round 9 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Aaron White got Panathinaikos going with a three-pointer but Nikola Kalinic and Prepelic soon gave Valencia its first lead, 4-3. White and Prepelic traded triples, then Marcus Foster scored in penetration for a 7-8 Panathinaikos lead. Louis Labeyrie followed a dunk with a layup, getting help from Prepelic to make Valencia regain a 14-12 lead. Foster scored in penetation and Papapetrou followed a driving layup with a jumper to give the Greens a 16-18 advantage. Labeyrie kept pacing the hosts with a tip-in, getting help from San Emeterio to put the hosts ahead, 22-21, after 10 minutes. Hermannsson and Tobey pushed Valencia further in front, 26-21, early in the second quarter. Mitoglou stepped up with a put-back layup and Mack buried a triple that tied it at 28-28. White dunked but Williams and San Emeterio provided another lead change, 33-30. Mitoglou followed a turnaround jumper with a jump hook but San Emeterio took over with a three-point play and Bojan Dubljevic scored down low for a 38-34 score. Sant-Roos and Mitoglou rescued Panathinaikos but an outstanding Prepelic gave Valencia a 45-41 lead at halftime.
Georgios Papagiannis followed a dunk with a tip-in to tie the game, 45-45, right after the break. Labeyrie dunked again but Papagiannis and Papapetrou put Panathinaikos ahead, 47-49. Lefteris Bochoridis hit a three-pointer but so did Prepelic and Guillem Vives for a 53-52 score. Prepelic took over with a backdoor layup, Dubljevic bettered Foster's jumper with a triple and Kalinic added a layup that made the Greens call timeout at 60-54. Mack struck from downtown but Tobey matched that with a layup-plus-free throw. Nemanja Nedovic found his first 5 points, getting help from Mack to bring Panathinaikos within 70-66 after 30 minutes. Ben Bentil hit a corner triple early in the fourth quarter but Williams restored a 74-70 Valencia margin. Hermannsson nailed a big triple and fed Williams for a dunk in an 8-0 run that broke the game open, 82-70, with over 4 minutes left. Mack, Tobey, Sant-Roos and Williams each struck from beyond the arc, and Hermannsson joined the three-point shootout to seal the outcome, 91-78, as Panathinaikos never recovered.
Game Leaders
Pivotal performer
Prepelic kept his good momentum going and led Valencia to a great home win. He finished the game with 18 points on near-perfect shooting: 2 of 2 two-pointers, 4 of 5 threes and 2 of 2 free throws. He added 6 assists and 4 fouls drawn for a PIR of 26, a new personal best.
Game-changing moment
Hermannsson took matters into his own hands early in the fourth quarter. With Valencia ahead 74-70, Hermannsson buried a triple and then sent a no-look pass to Williams for a slam. It was the start of an 8-0 run which gave Valencia full control of the game, 82-70, and the hosts never looked back.
Stellar stat
Valencia took a much better care of the ball and that allowed the hosts to get the win. Valencia finished the game with 28 assists and just 10 turnovers for a fantastic assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.8. Panathinaikos had 19 assists but picked up as many as 18 turnovers.
Did you know?
Dubljevic became Valencia's all-time top scorer, beating Rafa Martinez, who combined for 5,589 points in all competitions. Dubljevic reached 5,591 with a three-pointer midway through the third quarter. His 9 points tonight gave him a total of 5,593 in Valencia's uniform.