By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Facundo Campazzo traveled to Greece, he was not eligible to play but even without him, Crvena Zvezda got the big 90-86 road win over Olympiacos.
It was a team effort for the winning side with many players contributing and Luca Vildoza ultimately stealing the show.
To be exact, the Argentinian guard scored 22 and dished eight assists, Filip Petrusev had 14 points, Luka Mitrovic scored 13 and the duo of Nemanja Nedovic and Ognen Dobric added 12 points each.
“I like this kind of games which are decided in the end and now with Facu we can make it to the playoffs”, said Vildoza after the game.
On the other side, Kostas Sloukas finished the night with 14 points and nine assists but missed the shot which could have won the game for Olympiacos. Tarik Black added 14 points and Sasha Vezenkov had 13.
Olympiacos had the lead in the first half, pushing it even to 12 points (42-30), however, Zvezda was trailing just by four at halftime (45-41) and got a 65-62 lead entering the last period with Vildoza beating the buzzer for a two-pointer.
After a three by Dobric, the guests suddenly had a 10-point advantage (73-63) after the first two minutes of the fourth quarter thanks to a 12-1 run.
“We played better in the second half, in defense and boxing out”, said Zvezda coach Dusko Ivanovic who added: “My players are not only motivated for the games but also in practice”.
Petrusev with one more three gave Zvezda an 11-point lead (76-65) with six minutes left in the game, while the hosts couldn’t get their usual points from the three-point line, having until then a good but not great 35% (10/28), while Zvezda had the same made threes on a higher 47% percentage (10/21) and an admirable 73% in two-pointers (19/25).
Olympiacos bounced back to make it a four-point game (79-75), but Vildoza answered with a huge three (82-75). Olympiacos kept pushing and trimmed the lead to three (82-79) with two minutes left with Vezenkov scoring and then to two (84-82) with Giannoulis Larentzakis making a three.
The two teams exchanged buckets and with 15 seconds left, Zvezda was leading by two (86-84) and Olympiacos had the ball. Kostas Sloukas had the chance to win the game, but he missed his three-point attempt and Vildoza with two made free throws sealed the deal (88-84).
Sloukas scored (88-86) with 2,5 seconds left, Vildoza was fouled and made his free throws again and the game was over.
“It is difficult to win if you allow 90 points on your home court but there were a lot of strange decisions during the game, so I am really shocked with this, but I have to congratulate Zvezda”, said Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas.
Olympiacos dropped to a 9-6 record, while Zvezda improved to 8-7.