By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus captain Kostas Papanikolaou scored a career-high-tying 22 points and Sasha Vezenkov added 20 points plus seven rebounds as their team defeated Valencia 92 – 85 on the road after two comebacks from down double figures. This was the seventh win in seven trips for the Reds at Valencia and the fourth victory this season against Spanish teams on the road.
This was also the seventh straight dub for Olympiacos in EuroLeague overall to improve its record to 18-7 and remain at the top of the standings. Valencia, which had won the first-leg game in Greece, dropped to 13-12.
“I didn’t know that,” Papanikolaou said on his squad’s record at Valencia. “Personally I love playing here, I have great memories of playing here. If you win the memories are better, but like I said before, it’s a great place to play. The fans here know how to create a great atmosphere.”
Klemen Prepelic had 21 points and James Webb III scored 14 for a Valencia team that pushed back an Olympiacos once in the first half but couldn’t do it twice. The Tarnoja led 25 – 10 early and saw their opponents scoring 15 unanswered points before reacting to get a 45 – 35 lead at halftime.
After the break, Olympiacos made another attempt to turn the game around and this time their remained successful. Thomas Walkup gave the push with his first 11 points in the game and Papanikolaou and Vezenkov joined him to give the Reds a 52-57 advantage with two minutes remaining in the third period.
Shaq McKissic also entered the equation for Olympiacos that made a 2-11 run to take a 58 – 73, shortly after the start of the fourth quarter. Valencia tried to trim that deficit and become competitive again but the visiting side always had answers, especially courtesy of Vezenkov to remain out of reach.
Walkup finished with 13 points (all of them in the third quarter) plus six assists. Kostas Sloukas contributed 10 points and nine assists for Olympiacos.