“Cleaned” PAOK in the second half and Panionios achieved a second victory

With a flurry of three-pointers in the fourth period, Panionios defeated PAOK 73-62 in Nea Smyrni for the third matchday of the Stoiximan GBL and reached a 2-1 record and close to the top, leaving the “doubleheader” in the premiership victory in Peristeri and with a 1-2 record low in the standings.

The match was a derby in the first half, with the Blues holding a small lead in the third period, but three consecutive 3-pointers at the start of the fourth period and a 6-0 run during that period brought Aris Lykogiannis’ men to the + 10 and +11 and “water entered the groove”.

Leading the winners were Brown with 15 and Salustros with 11 points, while Bartley with 15 and Upson with 12 points stood out for the “doubleheader”.

The match

With Upson as the protagonist, PAOK led 7-0, also dominating the rebounds. The “two-headed” Americans maintained +4 to +6 for the “black and white”. Davis helped spark a 6-0 run by the Blue and Red to make it 13-13. Persedis’ three-pointer made it 13-16 and at 15-16 the 4-0 of PAOK at 15-20 at the end of the first period.

A 4-0 run by Panioni at the start of the second period made it 19-20 for Aris Lykogianni’s team. The Greeks of PAOK maintained +1 to +3 for the “black and white”, but a 6-0 run by Panioni brought +3 for the home team in the poor defense of Massimo Cancellieri during this period. Upson starred in PAOK’s 7-0 run for 27-31, but Brown took his “gun” and “bombed” the opponent’s basket for the 7-0 Neosmyrniotes and 34-31 at the end of the half. Panionios had 2/12 three-pointers and 18 rebounds and PAOK had 7/14 two-pointers, 11/11 shots and 18 rebounds.

With a 7-0 run at the beginning of the third period, Panionios reached 41-34 with the many racket and perimeter solutions in the zone defense that the Italian coach of the “two-headed” tried to implement. Bartley led a 6-0 run to make the doubleheader 41-40 and Cruiser’s 3-pointer tied the game at 43-43. A 5-0 run by Panioni brought the score to 49-44 and Smith brought +6 for the “blue-reds” who found solutions in the opponent’s basket and took offensive rebounds. A 4-0 by PAOK reduced it to 52-50, but Saloustos closed at 54-50 at the end of the quarter.

With two three-pointers at the beginning of the fourth period, Panionios reached 60-50 and with the next Smith’s 63-52, maintaining the +9 to +11, putting the ball correctly now in the opponent’s racket. PAOK responded with a 5-0 run for -6, but Saloustros made it 69-61 at 1’52” and with a 4-0 run by the hosts in the last minute we reached the final result.

The quarters:

The statistics