CRO - Simon heroics lift Lokomotiv Kuban past Panathinaikos

HERAKLION (Euroleague) - It's never an easy task for a side when the opponents in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague are Panathinaikos.

With the great Dimitris Diamantidis pulling the strings and a terrific supporting cast, the Greens are always going to be among the toughest of adversaries.

Forced to play home games away from their OAKA arena in Athens as punishment for offenses committed during their quarter-final series with Barcelona in last season's Euroleague, Pana were able to win easily over Laboral Kutxa (Baskonia) in Cyprus a couple of weeks ago.

On Thursday night in Crete, where they hosted last season's Eurocup winners Lokomotiv Kuban, it was a different story.

Krunoslav Simon, a starting guard in Croatia's national side who will feature at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer as Lokomotiv prevailed, 72-69.

Diamantidis had tied the game with a three-pointer just seven seconds from the end but the left-handed shooting Simon, guarded by Pana's Lithuania international Jonas Maciulis, replied with one of his own three-balls from the top of the key as the Russian team improved to 3-1 in Group D.

Simon had some big games in Slovenia at the EuroBasket with Croatia, helping them to a fourth-place finish.

From three-point range, he was lethal, making 44.7% (21 of 47), including a five of eight effort in Croatia's 84-72 triumph over Ukraine in the last eight that qualified the team for the World Cup.

The 1.97m Simon drilled at least one three-ball in each of Croatia's 11 games.

On Thursday, the 28-year-old missed his first five attempts from long range but he came good when it mattered most for the side from Krasnodar.

"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t," he said.

"I took this three-point shot at the buzzer and I was lucky to watch the ball go inside."

FIBA