Two teams with the goal of reaching the Eurocup Finals will clash on Wednesday in Greece where Panellinios BC hosts Gran Canaria 2014 in the opening leg of their home-and-away Quarterfinals series. Panellinios placed second in Last 16 Group K on a tiebreaker after posting a 4-2 record despite injuries that ravaged the team. Gran Canaria won Group L with a 4-2 record. Granca is one of the great home teams in the history of the competition, which puts emphasis on Panellinios to start well and win the first game by as large a margin as possible. Of course Garn Canaria, which recorded a pair of road wins thus far this season, will be looking to win. The game is the third between the clubs this season. Panellinios opened the season with a resounding 89-60 home win over Granca led by Devin Smiths 25 points. Gran Canaria won 73-51 on the Canary Islands in January as James Augustine posted 19 points and 9 rebounds. While Gran Canaria enters the series with the same players it had in those games, Panellinios lost Josh Davis and Britton Johnsen to injury and replaced them with veteran forward Chris Owens. Panellinios head coach Ilias Zouros relies on his backcourt for much of the teams scoring needs. Point guard Rod Blakney orchestrates the attack alongside sharpshooter Manolis Papamakarios, while Smith is an athletic small forward who can score from inside and out. Sixth man Kostas Charalampidis is an excellent scoring option off the bench. Blakney will face Grancas veteran playmaker Marcus Norris, with Tomas Bellas bringing energy off the bench. Jaycee Carroll will test his scoring skills against Papamakarios and Charalampidis, while Jim Moran and Melvin Sanders await Smith. In the paint, Panellinios centers Ian Vougioukas and Djuro Ostojic will encounter Will McDonald and Sitapha Savane, while Owens joins with Alekos Petroulos for the hosts at power forward to battle Augustine. There wont be many surprises when the teams meet for the third time this season, but there will be much intensity since this game could be the most important of them all.
REFEREES: Fabio Facchini, Paolo Taurino, Tomas Jasevicius