GRE – Every result has implications on intriguing Greek league

ATHENS (A1 Ethniki) - When the dust has settled on the regular season in Greece's top flight in several weeks, the weekend results of the 21st Round could be remembered as the most important of the campaign.

Teams are either jostling for position, battling for post-season berths or fighting for their A1 Ethniki lives.

All of the games impacted the standings.

Panathinaikos and Olympiacos won to get closer to securing the top two spots.

The former rolled to a 110-81 triumph over relegation-threatened Ilisiakos, hitting 10 of 21 shots from long range and winning the rebounding battle 38-27.

Kostas Tsartsaris, whose injury problems have been a huge setback for the Greens this season, had 19 points and six rebounds in the victory.

Serbia international Milenko Tepic also got an extended run for the Greens and had 12 points.

"We will have to push ourselves in every workout, in every game and do the best on the court every time," Tepic said.

"This will bring us results. We are trying to play our best, focusing on the objective of capturing the championship."

Panathinaikos are desperate to win the title since they have already lost the Greek Cup Final to Olympiacos, and have been eliminated from the Euroleague.

The setback has left Ilisiakos second-bottom in Greece with just four wins and 17 defeats.

Olympiacos prevailed 92-74 over Panionios after getting a balanced scoring attack.

Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza each had 16 points for the Reds.

The loss has left Panionios in ninth place and out of the play-off zone.

Third-place Maroussi lost an 81-79 nail-biter at home to Peristeriou.

Georgios Tsiakos drilled what proved to be the game winning three-pointer with 1:05 remaining for Peristeriou.

The hero of the game for Peristeriou was Clifford Hammonds, who buried six of eight shots from long range on his way to 23 points.

The American guard also handed out six assists and came up with two steals and earned Player of the Week honors in Greece.

A Devin Smith basket with just one second remaining lifted Panellinios to an 85-83 win at home against Kolossos.

The result pulled Panellinios to within one point of Maroussi.

The defeat for fifth-place Kolossos left them just one point clear of sixth-place Peristeriou.

Rivals PAOK and Aris each won to leave them in the seventh and eighth spots, respectively.

PAOK thrashed Trikala 105-69 and Aris edged AEK 79-76.

Aris got 18 points and nine rebounds from Matt Walsh.

In a game involved two sides battling for survival, Kavala won 101-62 over last-place Olympia Larissa.



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