Olympiacos overcame the obstacle of Panionios in the return of Fournier and Walkup

Bend him Panionio and Olympiacos continues unplaced in the Stoiximan GBL!

With them Fournier and Walkup to return to competitive action, having completely overcome the injuries that plagued them, the “red and whites” struggled a lot and faced several problems in the first half, but they gasped in the second and finally got a comfortable victory with 81-66!

With them Vezenkov, Dorsey to rest ahead of the highly demanding and difficult follow-up, the Piraeus built a double-digit difference in their favor in the third period and never looked back, making 3/3 in the championship.

On the other hand, Panionios, with Chris Hougaz and Nikos Karagiannis on his bench, remains without a win within the borders (0-3) and at the bottom of the scoreboard.

The first scorer for the winners were Nilikina and Hallwho each had 16 points, with the former also collecting 5 rebounds and handing out 2 assists, while the latter also had 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. Positikotatos and O Lorentzakiswith 14 points (3/5 three-pointers). For the guests, they stood out Luntzis (20p, 7 rib) and You’re a geek (10 points, 9 assists).

Now, Olympiacos turns its attention to its away match with Bayern Munich (24/10, 9:45 p.m.) for the 6th matchday of the Euroleague, while for Historikon next up is his confrontation with Buduchnost (22/10, 20:00) in Montenegro for the EuroCup.

The match:

Olympiacos started the game with Walkup, Fournier, Ward, Peters and Milutinov, with George Bartzokas to have Walkup and Fournier available again, while opting to rest Dorsey. Lee and McKissick were also left out of the squad, along with the consistently absent Evans and Fall, while Vezenkov did not compete at all either. On the other hand, Panionios, with Chris Hugage and Nikos Karagiannis officials on his bench after the departure of Pavicevic, he started the game with Ghika, Papathanasiou, Lewis. Wall and Kreuzer, with the injured Starks out, with Hunts out in the second half with a hamstring injury.

The match started with Olympiakos coming in… nervous and with Panionios taking advantage of the situation, making a very good start and taking an 11-2 lead, thanks to three-pointers from Kreuzer, Lewis and Papas. Milutinov with a foul basket cut it to 7-13, but the visitors continued to have the lead, escaping again to +8 (9-17 and 11-19) with baskets by Gika and Watson.

Nilikina with the first three-pointer of Olympiakos and Peters with his consecutive baskets, reduced it to 16-19, while the home team “tightened” their defense and tied it at 19-19 with a terrible alley-oop nailing by Hall from an assist by Walkup, before Luntzis formed with his three-pointer 19-22 of the first period.

With Vezenkov remaining on the bench, Olympiakos continued to be misguided at the start of the second quarter, while Panionios also lost the pace he had offensively. Hall with a shot and a hook after an offensive rebound tied the game at 22-22, while Papanikolaou with a three-pointer gave the hosts their first lead of the game (25-23). Lountzis responded and Tsalbouris with another three-pointer from a wonderful assist by Gikas put Panionios in front again (27-29), before Hall nailed it again, for 29-29.

Dominant inside the racket, Hall made it 31-29, with Gika hitting the defense for the new draw. The two teams continued to go hand-in-hand on the score, with Tsalbouris tying the game with a three-pointer (7/14) at 39-39 and Olympiakos ending the first half leading for the first time in the game by 5 points (42-37), with Nilikina reaching double figures and Larentzakis hitting a very difficult three-pointer after a step back!

The third period started with Nilikina continuing to give Olympiakos offensive solutions, scoring with a layup for 44-37, while a little later he nailed an assist from Peters, taking the foul, to give his team its biggest lead (49-40)! Peters made a steal and Ward scored on a layup for 51-40, while Panionios made just one field goal in 7 minutes, trailing -14 (54-40). Lius scored for 54-42, while Larentzakis with consecutive three-pointers made it 60-45which was also the score at the end of the third period.

Having gained the momentum, Olympiacos continued to have complete control of the match in the fourth quarter. Larentzakis scored again for 62-45 and Fournier with his first basket of the game made it 70-54. Hall with another highlight nailing made it 72-56, with the “red and white” finally reaching the victory comfortably with the 81-66.

The quarters: 19-22, 42-37, 81-66

The match statistics

Live of the match from sport-fm.gr