Larentzakis Hits Late Threes as AEK Edge Mykonos 84-79

By Taki Panos

Some wins look good in the box score. Others just feel good when the buzzer goes. AEK's Saturday afternoon at the SUNEL Arena was firmly the second kind. Giannoulis Larentzakis hit two three-pointers in the last two and a half minutes as AEK held off a stubborn Mykonos Betsson 84-79 in round three of the Stoiximan GBL, as Sport24 reported. The result lifted AEK to 2-1 in the Greek Basket League and dropped the islanders to 1-2, after a game that got a lot tighter than it looked early on.

If you are new to Greek basketball, a little context helps. AEK are one of the traditional powers of Athens basketball, and they play their home games in Ano Liosia, on the western edge of the city, per escore's venue details. Their last league outing went badly, an 88-58 thumping by Aris in Thessaloniki. Mykonos are the ambitious island club that is already 2-0 in the FIBA Europe Cup this season. Yes, that Mykonos, the one most visitors know for beaches and windmills rather than pick and roll.

Both coaches had to shuffle their rotations. AEK played without Frank Bartley, who was held out to protect a case of tendinitis, Gazzetta reported. That is a big absence. Bartley was named MVP of the Basketball Champions League for 2025-26, per FIBA, and had not missed a game since arriving at AEK, a run of 52 straight appearances, Gazzetta added. Mykonos were missing captain Vangelis Mantzaris, Devin Cannady, Ronnie Harrell and Khalid Moore, ERT Sports noted. The good news for AEK coach Dragan Sakota was that Derrick Williams and Greg Brown were both available for the first time this season.

Williams wasted no time. The 35-year-old forward, who was the second pick of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, scored his first AEK points on a fast break after a Landers Nolley steal and a pass from Dimitris Flionis, Gazzetta wrote. He had four points as AEK went up 9-3 midway through the first quarter, then dunked off a Larentzakis assist to force a Mykonos timeout, according to Gazzetta's match report. The visitors got back within 11-10 through DJ Funderburk and Dionysis Skoulidas, TA NEA wrote, but AEK closed the quarter ahead 22-17.

The second quarter looked like it might settle things. Brown, playing his first game of the season, brought a jolt of energy, and his three-pointer pushed the lead to 15 at 34-19, Sport24 reported. Mykonos coach Vangelis Ziagkos called a timeout and his team answered with a 6-0 run. Jermaine Love kept the islanders in touch, while Nolley found some late offense for AEK, per TA NEA, and the home side went into the break up 47-38. Comfortable, but not quite safe.

Mykonos came out of halftime with real purpose. Funderburk and Love cut the gap to 51-45 within three minutes, and AEK's turnovers kept handing the visitors chances, TA NEA noted. Late in the third quarter, a Tyree Appleby basket over Williams made it 59-58, Sport24 reported. Suddenly it was a one-point game. Williams and Dimitris Katsivelis steadied things, and AEK took a 65-59 lead into the fourth.

The fourth quarter is where this one was decided. AEK had control again for a while, but back-to-back threes from Skoulidas and Appleby made it 74-72 with about five minutes left, and Sakota had to call timeout, per Sport24. Then Larentzakis stepped up. His three-pointer with 2:19 to play made it 79-72. Love kept answering and Mykonos got as close as 81-77, Gazzetta wrote, before Larentzakis buried another three with 11 seconds left to make it 84-77 and end the argument. The final was 84-79.

Larentzakis finished with 13 points, going 3 of 4 from three, plus five assists, according to Sport24. Gazzetta named him its man of the match and called him clutch, which is fair after those two shots. The Greek guard joined AEK this summer from Olympiacos, per Eurobasket's transfer list, and on a day without the team's top scorer, he was the one who wanted the ball when it mattered. That is exactly what a veteran signing is supposed to do.

What really carried AEK, though, was depth. Six players scored in double figures, Sport24 and ERT Sports both pointed out. Katsivelis matched Larentzakis with 13, Nelly Joseph had 12 points and nine rebounds, Brown added 12 and Nolley 11, per ERT Sports and TA NEA, while Williams reached 10 in his debut, Gazzetta reported. Thomas Heurtel ran the show with 11 assists, which Gazzetta picked as the stat of the game, and AEK finished with 24 assists as a team.

Mykonos deserve credit for making it a fight without four rotation players. Love, who is 37, per the club's roster on Wikipedia, led everyone with 25 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Funderburk had 17 points and eight rebounds and Appleby 14 points and six assists, ERT Sports reported. The islanders won the rebounding battle 30-23 and made 8 of 18 threes to AEK's 6 of 18, per Sport24's team stats. AEK made up for it at the line, going 20 of 29, and with ten steals.

My take: I like this win more than the score suggests. AEK were without their best scorer, had two players who had not played all season, and were coming off a 30-point beating in Thessaloniki. A team in a bad place loses this game when the lead shrinks to one. AEK did not. The 16 turnovers and the rebounding gap are real worries against better teams, and Sakota will know it. But six double-figure scorers and a veteran guard who calmly takes the big shots is a pretty good place to build from.

There is no time to rest. AEK host Windrose Giants Antwerp in the Basketball Champions League on Wednesday, October 21, at the SUNEL Arena, per the club's schedule and the BCL, then travel to PAOK on Saturday, October 24, at 17:30, while Mykonos host Aris that day at 15:00, Sport24 reported. For more on Greek teams and Greek athletes around the world, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. Bartley or no Bartley, AEK found a way.

Sources: Sport24, Gazzetta, TA NEA, ERT Sports, AEK BC, Basketball Champions League, Eurobasket, FIBA, Wikipedia.

Image: Yellow flag with a black double-headed eagle in AEK colors by Kanchelskis, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).