Olympiacos overcame the stubborn Ares

With an unstoppable Alec Peters The Olympic bent the resistance of the excellent and very apt Mars outside the 6.75 m. (16/32 sq.), prevailing 85-77at SEF, for its premiere Stoiximan Basket League Top 6.

The American forward was top of the field with 28 points and 5 rebounds, with Thomas Walkup to be just as good with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists. At 10 p.m. he stopped Naz Mitrou-Longwhile he touched the double-double o Moses Wright with 9p. and 10 rebounds.

From the “yellows”, the first scorer was Vasilis Toliopoulos with 16 points, with Robert Bloombergs to follow with 14p. and the Ronnie Harrell with 13 p.

In the 21-2 Piraeus went up, while on the other hand the team from Thessaloniki fell to 12-11.

The match

Olympiacos started with Fall, Peters, McKissick, Kanan and Walkup, while Aris started with De Souza, Bloombergs, Reed, Toliopoulos and Bohorides. Both entered the first two minutes sluggishly (2-2), with the “red and whites” escaping to +5 (9-4) and with three points the “yellows” going ahead (9-10), in the 6th minute. The Piraeus regained their lead with Peters and Fal, for +3 (15-12), in the 8th minute. However, in the last two minutes, the guests put pressure on the defense and with Harrell leading the attack, they closed the first period with a 7-0 run and +4 (15-19).

Olympiacos started the second quarter with a good defense, making a 6-0 run for the lead (21-19), in the first three minutes. Aris’ answer was from Persedis and Stark who came from the bench and pushed them to individual scores of 2-8, for +4 (23-27), at 14′. Then, the “red and white” got closer to the point (28-29), with the “yellow” immediately responding with three-pointers by Toliopoulos and Harel, for +7 (28-35), at 17′. In the last minutes, Barzoka’s players showed more motivation for defense and with Wright, Williams-Goss and Walkup took control and went to the locker room in front (39-38).

With a 4-0 run by McKissick, Olympiacos entered the second half, going to +5 (43-38), with Aris responding with three-pointers from Toliopoulos and Bloombergs for the lead (43-44), at 23′. Then, the “red and white” ran on the open field and with the “hot” Peters they went to +3 (50-47), in the 25th minute. There, Bloombergs activated and the “yellows” went ahead again, maintaining their lead (52-53), until the 27th minute. In the last minutes, Larentzakis took Piraeus by the hand for +4 (57-56), with a three-pointer by Harel making it 57-56 in the third period.

With a shot from a technical penalty and a three-pointer by Katsivelis, Aris made it 4-0 at the beginning of the fourth period, for +3 (57-60). Olympiacos reacted immediately and went ahead with Peters (63-60) and with Mitrou-Long entering the equation, the difference went to +7 (71-64), at 34′. Toliopoulos and Bloombergs aggressively kept the guests at bay and reduced the score (76-71) in the 36th minute. With a three-pointer by Walkup, the “red and whites” clipped the… wings of the guests (79-71) and from that point on, Peters took the baton, increasing the difference to +11 (85-74), with Harrell shaping the final 85-77.

The quarters: 15-19, 39-38, 57-56, 85-77

See here the match statistics

Watch the film of the match here