Olympiacos “strangled” Virtus and took it all from her!

With a defense that… biting in the second half and a terrible third quarter that made individual scores 20-5(!)The Olympic prevailed 74-69 her Virtuesin the packed SEF, covering the -2 loss in the first round.

Fifth win in a row for the “red and whites”, who climbed to 17-11 and remain in the top six. On the other, in the same record the team from Bologna retreated.

Piraeus played without them Thomas Walkup, Giannouli Larentzakis and Nikola Miloutinovhaving him as the leader Kostas Papanikolaou with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Good performance from him too Isaiah Canaan with 12p., while at 11p. he stopped Mustafa Fal. Positive about his return to action Nigel Williams-Goss with 6 p. and 4 assists, while pivotal in the fourth period o Philip Petrushev, who finished the match with 7p. and 6 rebounds.

In the… negatives for his team Giorgos Bartzokas the 13 missed free throws (16/29) and the 15 fouls, including 9 in the first half that cost them -9 (37-46), with which they went to the locker room.

From Luca Banki’s team, he stood out Tornik Sengelia with 15 points and 6 rebounds.

The match

Olympiacos started with Fal, Peters, Papanikolaou, Kanan and Luntzis. Nervous start with many mistakes from the “red and whites”, as a result of which Virtus went to 2-6 in the first two minutes and then with Belinelli to +6 (6-12), in 5′. The Piraeus counterattacked with Kanan’s forward to equalize (12-12), with Miki and Hackett answering for +5 (14-19) of the Italians, in the 8th minute. In the last two minutes, Dobrich maintained the visitors’ lead, but Kanan reduced the difference to a point (21-22) at the end of the first period.

Very bad start from Olympiakos in the second quarter as well, with its mistakes giving baskets in the open court to Virtus and Lundberg and Zizic sending it to +8 (24-32), at 13′. Through the defense, the “red and whites” found points with Petrusev and Brazdeikis, temporarily getting closer (28-32), with Sengelia and Paiola sending the guests to +9 (28-37), at 16′. With the return of Papanikolaou to the court, the Piraeus reacted and got closer (33-37), but the Italians responded with three-pointers and sent the difference to +12 (34-46), at 19′. In the remaining time, the players of Bartzokas took out a defense and with a three-pointer by Papanikolaou they reduced the difference to a single digit value (37-46) at the end of the first half.

Excellent start from Olympiakos in the second half, with Fal… covering the baskets in defense and Papanikolaou, Kanan and Peters making a 13-0 run, for the first lead and +4 (50-46), at 25′ . With Hackett’s shots, Virtus scored its first points, but the “red and whites” continued their terrible defense, Banky’s players were very inaccurate and Williams-Goss and McKissick went to +7 (55-48), in the 28th minute. With a basket and a foul by Sengelia, the Italians achieved their first goal on the field, with Fal’s nailing sending Barzoka’s team to +6 (57-51) at the end of the third period.

With a good defense and Wright and Petrusev in the attack, Olympiacos went to +10 (63-53), in the first three minutes of the fourth period. The tempo of the match remained very low, with missed shots on both sides, but the “red and whites” steadily maintained their distance with McKissick (68-57), until the 36th minute. Then, the Piraeus played with time, losing rhythm in the attack, with Sengelia and Miki reducing (69-64), in the 39th minute. With a Williams-Goss basket, Olympiacos took a breather, with Paiola’s three-pointer reducing the lead (71-67), 36 minutes before the end. The “red and white” responded in the same way with Peters for +7 (74-67), at 16.5”, with Lundberg shaping the final 74-69!

The quarters: 21-22, 37-46, 57-51, 74-69

See here the match statistics

Watch the film of the match here