Pappas leads Panathinaikos past Zalgiris

Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens topped visiting Zalgiris Kaunas 84-76 on Friday at Olympic Sports Center Athens in both team’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague opener. Nikos Pappas led the way with 19 points and Chris Singleton added 13 points and 7 rebounds for the winners. The visitors held a slim margin going into the last 10 minutes, however Pappas hit a pair of three-pointers during a 10-3 run that put Panathinaikos in front for good. Pappas’s steal and a Calathes triple with 2:17 left opened up a 77-68 lead, the biggest of the night, and helped the Greens avoid drama in the final moments. Calathes finished with 13 points and Ioannis Bourousis had 11 points and 6 rebounds for the victors. Brock Motum scored a career-high 19 points for Zalgiris. Paulius Jankunas added 13 points and 8 rebounds, Lukas Lekavicius netted 12 and Arturas Milaknis 11 in defeat.