By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos beat Zalgiris Kaunas at home (74-68) on a night that ended up being a thriller.
Sasha Vezenkov was the top scorer with 17 points and 11 rebounds, including some big free throws in the closing second of a game that ended up being a thriller.
Even Fournier added 15 points for the winners who needed this win.
After losing on the opening night on the road to Fenerbahce, Olympiacos had to bounce back and Zalgiris never gave up until the very end, but had a lot of ground to cover.
Sylvain Fransisco with 13 points tried to steal the game in the end and Deividas Sirvydis was the top scorer with 17.
“It’s not easy to come to a team where they play for so many years together, I am just trying to find a way to help”, said Fournier after the final buzzer, which finally saw his close friend Moustapha Fall making his season debut with Olympiacos after injury.
Until the last second
Olympiacos had a stellar start finishing the first period with a 21-6 score after a buzzer-beating three by Kostas Papanikolaou.
Things got balanced in the second quarter, but the hosts managed to keep a 35-24 lead against an opponent with too much ground to cover.
The story was the same in the third with Zalgiris trimming the lead to nine (52-43) after a shot by Alen Smailagic.
However, with a three at the start of the fourth by Sylvain Fransisco (52-46), Zalgiris made it a six-point game and things got interesting.
Luca Vildoza and Papanikolaou answered back with two threes (58-48) but Zalgiris didn’t give up and made it a two-point game (67-65) with less than two minutes to go.
With the game on the line, Vezenkov took action to close it the right way giving a much-needed extra edge to the Reds.
Photo credit: EuroLeague