Fournier and Sasha took it upon themselves to… redeem Olympiakos!

He avoided a mega kazoo in the final and closed his domestic European obligations for 2024 with a huge victory Olympic!

With them Evan Fournier and Sasha Vezenkov to take them by the hand in the last 70 seconds scoring four points each, the “red and white” prevailed with the stressful 90-85 of the militant Alba Berlin in SEF, completing the first round of the competition with a great result as the match unfolded!

His team narrowly missed out Giorgos Bartzokas to pay for its many mistakes, but also for its mediocre to poor defensive function, however, in the crucial moments, its two superstars were there to provide answers to the attacking crescendo of the Germans in the last period. Somehow, the people of Piraeus rose at 11-6 and in 3rd place of the scoreboard!

Leading for the winners was Evan Fournier who finished the match with 23 points and 3 assists, with Vezenkov to add 17 points and 6 rebounds. Complicated, especially in the first 30 minutes, was also Mustafa Fal, with the tall Frenchman finishing the game with 18 points and 9/9 2-pointers (!), 5 rebounds, 3 assists and as many blocks!

For the Berliners, who almost pulled off a huge surprise, this was the Their 14 defeats in this year’s tournamentremaining firmly at the bottom of the leaderboard. The leading scorer for the visitors was Thomas with 19 points, with Williams and Wenzel following with 13.

The match:

THE Olympicwho started the match with Walkup, Fournier, Papanikolaou, Vezenkov and Fal in his starting five, came into the game very focused and willing to play his basketball, imposing his own pace early on. With him Fournier to achieve the first points and the and the Fal and Vezenkov to add a two-pointer and a three-pointer respectively, the “red and white” led 10-4 at the three-minute mark. In fact, a little later, with the baskets of the two Frenchmen, they arrived at +10 (16-6), before the Alba Berlin react and with forward Thomas reduce with a quick 7-0 to 3 (16-13) in 6′.

Piraeus’ answer came with a free 3-pointer by Walkup, while Milutinov’s entrance to the floor provided further momentum near the racket, with the Serb scoring three points in that span to make it 24-17 in the 8th minute. With shots by Hermanson and a basket by Peters in the surprise after the good defense of Papanikolaou, the quarter ended at +7 and 26-19.

Shaq attack on the baseline??#MotorolaMagicMoments I @Moto pic.twitter.com/RRmmwdoFTt

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The scene was completely different in second period, where the home team relaxed… dangerously in their defense, with the first quarter reminding a lot of the one a few days ago against Virtus Bologna. The Germans felt comfortable in the “anarchic” basketball they were playing and with Williams, Samar and Rapik overtook for the first time in 14′ (26-28). His entrance Fal this time, it worked to Olympiakos’ advantage, with the Frenchman dominating the racket. Along with him McKissick and him Gosh they succeeded and made nice combinations for 38-34 at 17′ with their own baskets. Spagnolo and Wetzel, however, found answers for the Berliners (41-41), before Dorsey with a big three-pointer at 11 seconds and a great defense by Fal in the final, sent Olympiakos to the locker room in front with a score of 44-41.

The short half-time break seems to have “cleared” the mind of Olympiakos, who entered with passion and intensity in his defense in the third quarter. With Mustafa Fal being unstoppable in the paint and constantly finishing phases with spikes, the “red and whites” turned up the pace in attack as well. With four points from the French center, six from Vezenkov and a three-pointer from Fournier (he also had 2 assists on Fahl’s baskets), the hosts took the lead with +10 (55-45) at 23′. Thomas and Spagnolo gnawed away at the lead for Alba, but Fal with two more baskets of his own made it 59-52 two minutes later, with the beastly center having 16 points at this point on 8/8 shooting!

At the time when the guests were finding scores mainly from the shooting line, Olympiacos with two back-to-back three-pointers by Vildosa and Fournier went for the first time at +12 (66-54) at 28′while half a minute later, it was 68-56 with McKissick’s improbable reverse dunk! However, Alba pulled off some good moves in the final and ended the quarter with score at 69-62.

The German counterattack continued at the beginning of the fourth and final period. Where the defense of Piraeus did not work well and combined with several missed shots, it allowed Alba to overtake in the score for 75-74 at 33′. With a big and boyish basket in front of many defenders by Vezenkov, Olympiacos took the lead 76-75 and shortly after another basket by the Bulgarian 78-75, before Williams and Thomas with two consecutive three-pointers were written 80-81 at 35′.

Two shots by Fournier gave the home team the lead again (82-81), with Delow and Rapik responding for 82-85, 1:27′ before the end. Somewhere there, the superstars of Olympiakos came forward, with him Fournier to score two consecutive big two-pointers for 86-85 at 47”, with Vezenkov to take the baton, pull down two invaluable defensive rebounds, through which he also went to the shooting line and with four accurate ones wrote the final 90-85 in awe!

The quarters: 26-19, 44-41, 69-62, 90-85.

See here the statistics of the match.