PAOK mateco completed a perfect night by returning to winning ways, with Jaylen Hands pacing our team by his incredible performance while he finished the game with 27 points! Our team walked away with a good-as-gold victory against Panathinaikos with 81-73 and historically, that’s the first victory with the “greens” after eight years. This debut wouldn’t have been better for coach Takianos while all the PAOK fans celebrated with him.

Yannick Franke boosted our team defensively and led PAOK mateco with 10-5 (5’), but the hosts managed to get ahead with 13-18, in the first quarter. About the second quarter, PAOK mateco powered an 8-0 run that put our team in charge with 21-18 at 11’30”. However, Panathinaikos was back on top of the score. At that point, the hosts dominated with 23-28 and reached a nine point difference (31-40) but Jaylen Hands chipped in with his personal contribution and reduced to 38-40 until the end of the first half.

PAOK mateco started with a 5-0 run (and a 12-0 subscore) and gained the lead again (43-40) until the end of the match. In the end of the third quarter, Kalaitzakis tied the score 61-61 with a three-pointer. However, Hands was still on fire and that was combined with the fact that PAOK mateco had its rhythm and was constantly getting on top of the score: 69-66 35’, 76-69 37’. In the last quarter, our team limited Panathinaikos to 12 points and the progression of the game was foreseeable. That was the way PAOK bounced back to victories, while everyone within the fans and the club was celebrating after the end of the game.

Quarters: 13-18, 38-40, 61-61, 81-73

PAOK mateco: Franke 10 (2), Riley 7 (2), Tsiakmas 6 (2), Hands 27 (5), Margaritis 3 (1), Polley 12 (2), Slaftsakis, Sibert 6, Kaklamanakis 4, Kamperidis, Saloustros, Renfro 6.

PANATHINAIKOS: P. Kalaitzakis 8 (1), Wolters 2, Lee 3, Papagiannis 12 (2), Bochoridis 7 (1), G. Kalaitzakis 9, Bacon 16 (4), Ponitka 14 (2), Mantzoukas, Gudaitis 2.