Greek League, Regular Season, Game 17: February 23-24, 2008
Georgios Kalaitzis - Aris TT Bank Aris beat visiting Panathinaikos 82-75 in an exciting game in a packed Alexandrion Maelathron to hand the defending champions their first loss in the season after 17 games. The win snapped a 16-game losing streak for Aris against the Greens. Giorgos Kalaitzis put up a magnificent leading performance of 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists and Jeremiah Massey bagged 18 of his 21 points before halftime to pace Aris. Olympiacos held off Maroussi’s pressure to win 66-75 on the road with Kostas Vassiliadis posting 18 points, while Marc Jackson contributed 16. AEK sailed for its fifth consecutive win after beating Panionios 72-62 as Christos Tapoutos netted 18 points; Giannis Giannoulis led for Panionios with 14 points. Egaleo kept on rolling, this time upsetting visiting Panellinios as Prodromos Nikolaidis exploded for 23 points on 5 triples to answer to the guests’ 20 points from Anthony Grundy. The battle between Kolossos Rhodes and AGO Rethymnon to avoid relegation will have a clear favorite from now on, as the former beat the latter 85-80 behind 17 points from Giorgos Diamantopoulos and 16 from Danilo Pinnock; David Young’s 30 points weren’t enough for the visitors. Olympiada Patras grabbed an 81-75 win over AE Larissa to keep its slight hopes alive as Aleksey Nesovic, Dwayne Jefferson, Periklis Dorkofikis all shared 15 points, while Olympia Larissa returned to winning by downing PAOK 80-69 with Michael King scoring 25 points.

At the Alexandrion Melathron, the hot crowd stood on its feet to celebrate an 82-75 win, snapping Aris’s 16-game losing run against Panathinaikos. The hosts recorded a near perfect first half; led by Massey who netted 18 as the hosts built an impressive 52-36 difference thanks to their excellent transition game and their dominating energy on both sides of the floor. However, Panathinaikos was not ready to surrender; Sarunas Jasikevicius stepped up to guide the reigning champs to a huge 13-27 streak after halftime in order to trim it to 65-63 after three quarters. Panathinaikos came as close as 71-70 and 73-72, but Kalaitzis sank a big three-pointer for 78-72 to allow Aris to seal the win. Former Panathinaikos player Kalaitzis set up exemplary the hosts’ offense with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, Massey proved his inside dominance with 21 points and 9 boards, while Bracey Wright was solid with 20 points. Jasikevicius gunned 15 points, Demos Dikoudis posted 14; Vassilis Spanoulis added 12 and Nikos Chatzivrettas had 10 for the Greens.

In Maroussi, Panagiotis Giannakis was honored by the hosts before the tip-off, as the new Olympiacos head coach had spent four seasons in the local team with excellent results. The guests started in a good way and led 9-19 and 22-33, but soon Maroussi reacted not allowing Olympiacos to run away. However, the Reds never lost the lead to sail to the final 66-75 with Kostas Vassiliadis hitting 4 triples on his way to 18 points, and Marc Jackson posting 16 points. Jarod Stevenson scored 19 and Branko Milisavljevic 16 for Maroussi. AEK made Panionios struggle to get connected in OAKA Sports Hall; as a result the visitors scored only 62 points. Christos Tapoutos scored 18 points, while Amara Sy, K’Zell Wesson, William Avery had 13, 12, 11 respectively. Giannis Giannoulis posted 14 points; Brad Newley added 12 and Ivan Zoroski had 11 for Panionios in defeat.


LAST GAME GAME 17
February 23-24, 2008
DayMatchResult
Feb. 23A.E.P. OLYMPIAS vs. A.E.L. 81 - 75
Feb. 23EGALEO vs. PANELLINIOS 87 - 80
Feb. 23KOLOSSOS vs. ALMECO 85 - 80
Feb. 23OLYMPIA ATHIENIT vs.PAOK80 - 69
Feb. 23A.E.K. vs.PANIONIOS OnTele72 - 62
Feb. 24ARIS TTB vs. PANATHIN. 82 - 75
Feb. 24MAROUSI vs. OLYMPIACOS 66 - 75
NEXT GAME GAME 18
March 1-2, 2008
DayMatch
Mar. 1PANELLINIOS vs. OLYMPIAS
Mar. 1ALMECO vs. EGALEO
Mar. 2P.A.O.K. vs. KOLOSSOS
Mar. 1OLYMPIACOS vs. LARISAS
Mar. 2PANATHIN. vs. MAROUSI
Mar. 2PANIONIOS vs. ARIS TTB
Mar. 1A.E.L. 1964 vs. A.E.K.


STANDINGSTGWLP+P-
1PANATHINAIKOS1716114971187
2OLYMPIACOS1714314761270
3ARIS T.T.BANK1712512731179
4EGALEO1710713221347
5PANIONIOS OnTelecoms1710713191253
6PANELLINIOS179812671288
7A.E.K.179812631232
8A.E.L.1771012521268
9OLYMPIA ATHIENITIS1771011851216
10MAROUSI COSTA COFFEE1771011821233
11KOLOSSOS RODOU1761112901438
12P.A.O.K.1761112141302
13A.E.P. OLYMPIAS1731411511383
14A.G.O.R. ALMECO1731411691264

Sunday, February 24, 2008
Stelios Kyriakoglou, Athens
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