Panathinaikos returned to the top of their Euroleague group, beating Spain's Caja
Laboral 76-74 at home on Thursday.The result means that if Panathinaikos beat Lietuvos Rytas at home and Unicaja Malaga away in their two remaining games for the top-16 of the competition, they will finish first and have the home advantage in the all-important quarterfinal playoffs for the Final Four.
The Greens were on top for virtually the entire game at the Olympic Sports Hall in Maroussi, although the team from the Basque Country troubled the hosts with their excellent shooting outside the three-point line - at one point in the first half it had nine out of 15, a 60 percent rate.
Led by Antonis Fotsis (22 points, 11 rebounds, three steals), Panathinaikos finished the first half one point ahead (40-39) and needed 10 unanswered points in the third period to break away from the Vitoria-based team (59-48).
Yet Caja Laboral got back on level terms with just seconds to go (74-74), before Mike Batiste scored two free throws for the final 76-74 score.
Fernando San Emeterio did get a foul in the end but neither of his free throws hit their target.
He had already scored 19 points, while David Logan had scored 21 including five three-pointers.
After Fotsis, Batiste and Drew Nicholas helped Panathinaikos's scoring with 12 points each.
