A win against Panionios
Olympiacos beat hosts Panionios in Glyfada, 84-78 for the 10th day of the Basket League.
With Sasha Vezenkov taking center stage in the team's offensive game, Olympiacos tried to control the tempo early on. During a very intense game in Glyfada, the Piraeus team played especially focused on their defense and running a partial 7-0 got ahead in the score (7-12, 3'). The hosts were competitive and tied the score (14-14, 9'), with Vezenkov however being once again the one to give our team the lead by the end of the first quarter (16-20). In the second quarter, the 'red & whites' played for six minutes with Kostas Papanikolaou at '5' due to the lack of other solutions for the center position and subsequently saw the hosts getting ahead (24-23, 13') following a partial 8-1. The reaction was immediate from Bartzokas' players, who ran a partial 8-2 of their own and getting score from their bench got ahead once again (26-31, 16'). A three by Tyler Dorsey gave our team a 9p. lead (31-40, 18'), with half-time ending at 35-40.
The third quarter began with greater intensity in defense and seven unanswered points by Sasha Vezenkov (35-47, 22') with the margin widening to 12 points. Panionios reacted striking from the perimeter and taking advantage of some bad choices, our team made when attacking, dropped the difference to single digits (43-49, 25'). Sasha Vezenkov and Nikola Milutinov were providing scoring solutions (46-54, 26'), however, missed shots and turnovers facilitated a 7-2 partial for Panionios, for the 53-56 that marked the end of the third quarter. In the last quarter, Nikola Milutinov was the protagonist of the two initial plays of the game, making the score 53-58, for Evan Fournier to follow with five points of his own and hence the score becoming 55-64 (33'), with Olympiacos controlling the game after getting into rhythm in offense (58-71, 35'). The French guard upped the difference to 14p. (58-71) with five minutes remaining for the end of the game. Panionios tried to stay in the game (66-77, 37'), but our team remained focused to the end and Williams-Goss scored an important 2-pointer for the 74-83, 39') to secure a big win in a tough court (78-84), before the double Euroleague week that follows...
The quarters: 16-20, 35-40, 53-56, 78-84.
