Panathinaikos showed his serious face for 35 minutes, let it all out in the final, but finally managed to beat Kolossos 87:80 and make an appointment with Olympiakos (February 18, 7:15 p.m., ERT3 and LIVE from Sportish) in the semifinals of the final Eight of the Greek Cup OPAP.

Paris Lee played a leading role, recording 15 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Giorgos Papagiannis, who had not played in the Greens’ last two games (against Valencia for the EuroLeague and against Prometheus for the Basket League) due to hamstring problems, showed himself in very good shape with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Arturas Gudaitis and Dwayne Bacon each added 13 points.

The race

Panathinaikos looked serious from the start, took a 12-0 lead in the 4th minute and ended the period at +17 (27:10). The Greens had a perfect quarter on offense and defense as he had 3 steals, 3 blocks and no errors in addition to the high score.

In the middle of the second third, the Greens jumped to 25 points (41:16, 15′). Colossos got some breathing room in attack before the break, but the gap between the two teams remained close to 20 points (52-33, 20th minute) after Lefteris Mantzoukas scored a three-pointer during the break. Paris Lee and Arturas Gudaitis each scored 10 first-half points while Starks scored 11 for the Rhodians.

The pace slowed after halftime, with Kolossos cutting the lead to 15 (57-42) midway through the third period after Haris Yiannopoulos scored a 3-pointer. However, Dwayne Bacon took over from that point and then scored, creating two excellent passages for Giorgos Papagiannis and helping the Greens pull out again (71-49, 30′).

With six points in a row, the Greek national player made it 77:60 shortly after the 34th minute, but Kolossos reacted with their own 10:0 run and reduced the deficit to a single figure (77:70, 37th). Paris Lee ended the Rodites’ monologue, but Michael Dixon responded with a goal foul (79-73, 37’25”).

A well-timed series of shots followed from Dwayne Bacon and another from Christopher Coffey (81-75, 38’44”). Gudaitis made 1/2 from the charity streak and on the other end, Starks hit a big three-pointer (82 -78) with 42″ left on the timer. But Bacon and Lee cleaned up in the final for Panathinaikos who ended up making it difficult.

THE REFEREES: Poursanidis, Symeonidis, Christinakis.

THE DECADES: 27-10, 52-33, 71-49, 87-80.

PANATHINAICOS (Radonits): Kalaitzakis P., Walters 4 (5 assists), Lee 15 (4/5 two-pointers, 1/4 three-pointers, 4/5 shots), Papagiannis 16 (8/11 two-pointers, 0/ 1 treble, 7 rebounds), Bohorides, Williams 11 (1), Agravanis 7 (1), Kalaitzakis G. 2, Bacon 14 (1 treble, 7 assists), Ponitka 2, Mantzoukas 3 (1), Gudaitis 13 (3/ 4 two-pointers, 7/9 shots).

COLOSSUS (Papatheodorou): Smith 3 (1), Starks 16 (2 threes, 5 assists), Moreira 12 (4/8 doubles, 4/5 shots, 7 rebounds), Chrysikopoulos, Young 8 (2/7, threes). -Pointers, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Dixon 22 (3/4 2-pointers, 4/8 3-pointers, 4/4 shots), Hatzidakis, Katsivelis 2, Kofi 10 (11 rebounds), Yiannopoulos 5 (1) .

Panathinaikos team statistics: 26/42 2-pointers, 5/21 3-pointers, 20/24 shots, 31 rebounds (19 defense + 12 offense), 24 assists, 10 steals, 12 turnovers, 4 blocks.

Colossus team stats: 17/36 2-pointers, 10/25 3-pointers, 16/19 shots, 31 rebounds (20 defense + 11 offense), 18 assists, 10 steals, 15 turnovers, 2 blocks.