Panathinaikos, Aris win again

Both lead Euroleague Basketball groups unbeaten > Panathinaikos’s Andrija Zizic battled at Partizan Belgrade Wednesday. The Euro Champions held on for a 94-90 win to co-lead Group C with Real Madrid.

European Champions Panathinaikos and Aris both overcame tough challenges Wednesday night to remain unbeaten in the Euroleague after three rounds of play. Panathinaikos, whose squad needed to recover from an irritating travel ordeal that caused them to take about six hours to journey from Athens to Belgrade as a result of bad weather, held on for a 94-90 win at Partizan Belgrade in a Group C game. Thessaloniki team Aris responded to a seven-point deficit going into the final quarter to defeat visiting Cibona 77-73 in Group B.

Both clubs share the leads in their groups. Aris is Group B’s joint leader with Lietuvos Rytas and Panathinaikos shares Group C’s lead with Real Madrid. “It was a great game. At the end, we were lucky to win after we missed making the win much easier,” said Panathinaikos coach Zelimir Obradovic.

Panathinaikos’s Dimitris Diamantidis made two clutch free-throws at the end and Novica Velickovic missed a potentially game-winning three-pointer. Aris staged a final-quarter comeback, out-scoring Zagreb side Cibona 23-12, for its 77-73 home win. Jeremiah Massey was in superb form for a 28-point performance.

Late last night, Greece’s other Euroleague representative, Olympiakos, was at home to Virtus Bologna in Group A. Both teams went into the game with 1-1 records.

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