EA7 Milan holds off Greens for sixth straight home win

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan survived a big rally from Panathinaikos Athens and held on for a dramatic 77-75 victory in the Game of the Week at Mediolanum Forum, the site of the 2014 Final Four. The win improved Milan’s record to 5-3 and at least a share of second place in Group E, while Panathinaikos dropped to 4-4, but does hold a head-to-head tie-breaker thanks to a 16-point win over Milan in Top 16 Round 1. Milan did not allow a field goal for more than seven minutes and used a 16-4 spurt bridging the first and second quarters to open up a double-digit lead. The hosts extended the margin to 18 points by going 8 of 11 from three-point range in the first half, and held a 41-26 advantage at halftime. But the Greens slowly rallied in the third behind newcomer Zack Wright and James Gist, and the two fueled a late 2-12 run that got Panathinaikos within 3 points. Samardo Samuels was the force inside for the hosts, however, and a triple from Bruno Cerella helped Milan hang on to its lead. Keith Langford paced the winners with 18 points plus 5 assists. Samuels had 16 points, and Curtis Jerrells netted 10 for Milan. Gist collected 21 points plus 9 rebounds for the visitors, Wright finished with 17 points, while Antonis Fotsis had 10 in addition to 7 rebounds in defeat.