GRE – Diamantidis, Pekovic shine as Panathinaikos cruise past Zalgiris

ATHENS (Euroleague) – Panathinaikos blew out Zalgiris Kaunas on the second night of opening round Euroleague action.

Greece international Dimitris Diamantidis led four players in double figures with 15 points as the Greek champions rolled to a 78-51 win at the OAKA.

Zeljko Obradovic’s team seized a 26-11 advantage by the end of the first quarter and never looked back.

The home side made 55.8% (24 of 43) of their shots inside the arc and 27% (five of 18) beyond it, while Lithuanians Zalgiris were 16 of 39 (41%) from two-point range and three of 20 (15%) on three-pointers.

Nikola Pekovic, the former Montenegro center who joined from Partizan Belgrade in the summer, played more than 14 minutes and had 14 points on four of seven shooting from the floor. He was a perfect six of six at the line.

There were also wins for defending Euroleague champions CSKA Moscow, Unicaja Malaga and Montepaschi Siena.

CSKA won 90-64 at home over Armani Jeans Milano as Trajan Langdon poured in 20 points. Langdon drilled four of five shots from three-point range.

New signings Terence Morris (from Maccabi Tel Aviv) and Erazem Lorbek (Lottomatica Roma) also had good games with nine and 12 points, respectively, while Croatia’s Olympic guard Planinic, who joined from Tau Ceramica, scored just one.

Unicaja Malaga won 84-79 in Spain over Le Mans as Senegalese center Boniface N’Dong scored 14 points with three others hitting in double figures.

Great Britain international Roberto Archibald was the most efficient Unicaja player shooting the ball.

He made all five of his shots from the floor and scored 11 points and also grabbed six rebounds, but the Scottish center did turn the ball over four times.

Montepaschi Siena prevailed in Italy over Asseco Prokom, 80-71. Henry Domercant led the way for the Italian champions with 15 points while Lithuania Olympians Ksistof Lavrinovic and Rimantas Kaukenas scored 13 apiece.

FIBA