Panathinaikos Athens repeats Greek Cup

The most successful club in Greek Basketball is celebrating again, as Panathinaikos Athens as won the Greek Cup with a 68-59 win over Aris Thessaloniki.

While great rival Olympiacos has taken the glory in the league recently, Panathinaikos has held dominium over the Greek Cup. Indeed, this victory is a sixth consecutive title for Panathinaikos Athens, and takes the club’s total cup tally to 18. Incidentally, that’s a record.

With Olympiacos out of the picture thanks to Panathinaikos vanquishing its foe yesterday, it was the chance of Thessaloniki to etch its name on the Greek Cup trophy. However, the champs from Athens started strong and stopped Aris at just 10 points to ensure an 18-10 lead through the first quarter.

In the second frame, Thessaloniki improved and found more consistency at the bucket. The challengers pulled to within 2 points at the long break. The teams entered the locker room with the scoreboard reading 29-27. Panathinaikos still had the advantage and came out for the second half in the mood, compiling a 21-10 rally to ensure a 50-37 lead through thirty minutes. Thessaloniki hustled in the fourth act, but could do little to stop the professional champs as they closed out with ease.

James Feldeine grabbed 18 points and the MVP in the winning team, followed by Nick Calathes with 15 points.

Will Cummings took a game-high 20 points in the losing effort, while Michael Jenkins secured 12 points.