SPORTS

Sloukas buzzer beater not enough for Reds

Panathinaikos and Olympiakos suffered painful defeats in midweek, making their lives more difficult in the top 16 of the Euroleague.

Panathinaikos lost 89-83 at home to Russia?s UNICS Kazan on Wednesday for its first defeat in two games in this second group stage of the competition.

Mike Batiste scored 16 points and Steven Smith 15, but this was not enough for the Greens who had serious problems in defense, as their coach Zeljko Obradovic admitted at the post-match press conference.

The result renders next week?s match at Fenerbache/Ulker a must-win game for Panathinaikos if the European champion wants to claim the top spot of its group.

A rare buzzer-beating three pointer proved insufficient for Olympiakos to defeat host Galatasaray in Istanbul, as the Reds went down 78-77 in overtime on Thursday.

With the score at 69-66 in the Turks? favor, Costas Sloukas tried a desperate effort from Olympiakos?s own half and hit the target on the last second of regular time to force overtime.

However, he turned from hero to villain as he missed the shot that would have given victory to the Greeks in overtime, condemning them to their second loss in as many games in the top-16 stage.

Vassilis Spanoulis was the top scorer for Olympiakos, notching up 24 points on the night.

In the Eurocup on Tuesday Aris suffered its second loss in as many games going down 81-74 at Donetsk in Ukraine.

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