ANGT: Οlympiacos - Villeurbanne 76-87
Olympiacos lost to Villeurbanne 76-87 and was seeded 6th at the “Adidas Next Generation Tournament” that was held in Valencia.
The sluggish beginning of our team and its bad percentages (3/14 twos, 1/5 threes) forced her to trail from the first minute of the match up, with Villeurbanne closing the first quarter at +13 (9-22). The ‘reds’ found solutions in the offense passing the ball inside the post to Tsolakis (21-29). However, they were ‘betrayed’ by their defense, resulting in the French maintaining complete control and sending the difference to +20 (23-43 at 18’). With a partial 9-1, our team closed in at 12p. (32-44), while Kamanda (who really hurt us in the first part with 11 points and 10 rebounds) ‘wrote’ the 32-46 almost at the final buzzer of the first half.
Relying on its good perimeter percentages, Villeurbanne once again furthered the distance (22p., 35-57 at 23’). At that point, Olympiacos defense was transformed… Tsaldaris’ players ‘hid’ the basket and with Iosif Koloveros leading them, they run a partial 17-2 closing in at 7p. (52-59 at 28’). The French closed the third quarter leading 61-54, Olympiacos got to close in at 4p. (61-65), however, bad decisions in the offense and ‘red’ turnovers, allowed the French team to ‘strike’ at the rim, regain (with a partial 10-3) control (64-75 at 38’) and subsequently win the game.
The quarters: 9-22, 32-46, 54-61, 76-87.
