By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos was firing at all cylinders and FC Barcelona didn’t have the answers. The final score was 95-74, as the Greeks got also a point difference that can end up being crucial in a tie.
Even Fournier scored 19 points, Sasha Vezenkov added 18 and the duo of Nikola Milutinov and Tyler Dorsey added 12 points each as Olympiacos had a night to remember.
“It was a hard week for us, we lost two games in the EuroLeague and one from Panathinaikos (in the Greek League), we wanted to come back, and we did it perfectly, but we are just starting”, said Vezenkov after the final buzzer.
The Reds have now a 4-3 record and Barcelona dropped to 5-2 which may not be enough to keep them on the top of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings if Zalgiris (5-1) gets a win.
Kevin Punter had 18 points for Barcelona, and Chimezie Metu added 12 but the Catalans simply couldn’t keep up, especially in the second half.
A red and white spectacle
Barcelona scored first in the game and had a slight lead for most of the first eight minutes of action, having a 17-13 advantage. And then Olympiacos took over, completing an 11-0 run to build a seven-point cushion (24-17) with Shaq McKissic making the difference with seven points and Moses Wright adding four more.
The hosts had the lead from the end of the first quarter (21-17) and extended it to 11 points (37-26) and at the end of the first half the score was 44-36 after a buzzer-beating three by Tyler Dorsey. Kevin Punter with 11 points in the first half kept Barcelona near the Reds.
The crescendo of Olympiacos continued thanks to 10 quick points by Fournier and a three by Kostas Papanikolaou pushing the lead to 15 points (59-44) and the two teams entered the last period with the same distance between them (65-50).
Barcelona collapsed and Olympiacos in the end managed to not only get the win but do it with more than 20 points.
Photo credit: EuroLeague