Reds and Greens progress to next round in European campaign

Olympiakos took first place in their Euroleague Group B  with their victory over Lottomatica Roma while the thrashing of Armani Jeans Milano 93-62 saw Panathinaikos finish top of their Euroleague group

Olympiakos vs Lottomatica

A competent performance by Olympiakos in their last Euroleague Group B game on Thursday secured an 89-82 home victory over Lottomatica Roma and first place in the table.

The win means that the Reds are on a 20-game winning streak at home but, more importantly, that they end the group phase with a 7-3 record and first place in the group. Lottomatica finished with five wins and five defeats and took fourth place in the group.

Both teams go into the draw for the Top 16 that will take place on January 4.

Olympiakos had a number of star performers on Thursday night: Vassilis Spanoulis led the scoring with 18 points while Milos Teodosic scored 16 points and Ioannis Bourousis had 15.

Despite Olympiakos dominating most of the game and staying comfortably ahead in the last two periods, coach Dusan Ivkovic said he was unhappy with his players' performance.

"We had worked hard and I didn't expect us to play with such a low level of professionalism and concede baskets so easily," said the Serb.

"We conceded 29 points in the final quarter. Our defence was full of holes. I expect us to improve.

Panathinaikos vs Armani Jeans Milano

Panathinaikos triumphantly finished top of their Euroleague group after thrashing visiting Armani Jeans Milano 93-62 at the Olympic Sports Hall on Wednesday.

The Greens left the Milan team no margin for hope in this match as they dominated the game from start to finish and entertained the 6,000 fans who attended the Greek champions' last fixture in the first group stage.

Despite the absence of shooting guard Drew Nicholas and forwards Mike Batiste and Aleks Maric, the hosts controlled the pace of the game at their own will, finishing the first half 46-32.

They took a 20-point lead in the third period and when Milano reduced the deficit to 17 in the fourth period, Panathinaikos responded with an ultra-tight defence and some free scoring by substitutes to take the margin of victory to 31 points in the end.

Stratos Perperoglou led the scoring for the Greens with 14 points, followed by Costas Kaimakoglou with 12.

Panathinaikos can now expect a more favourable draw for the competition's top-16 after topping their pool with seven wins in 10 games.