A home win over Virtus
Olympiacos bested Virtus Bologna 88-78 at the SEF for the 16th round of the Euroleague and has rounded up 10 wins for the competition.
With Sasha Vezenkov taking a protagonist scoring role and Moustapha Fall being decisive in the first possessions on both ends of the floor, Olympiacos made an ideal beginning in the game vs the team from Bologna (9-3, 2'). The hosts had multiple players scoring, they were moving the ball well and playing with adequate intensity in defense, hence controlling the game tempo (13-5, 4'). Two back-to-back threes by Kostas Papanikolaou and two 2-pointers by Sasha Vezenkov upped the score margin to +18 (25-7, 6'), with the quarter ending 29-17. Our team's outlook was different in the same quarter though, with defense being less effective and hasty choices when attacking. Virtus started with a quick 4-0 closing into 8p. (29-21, 12'), with Alec Peters making good on his perimeter shooting and giving Olympiacos two-digit margins again (32-21). Giannoulis Larentzakis added to the score (35-24, 14'). However, the 'red & whites' did not exhibit the required patience with their offense and lost concentration in defense, which the Italians took advantage of, gradually shrinking the difference and succeeding in getting ahead by the end of half-time (43-46).
Our team regained control of the game in the third quarter, leaning on their defense and with Evan Fournier spearheading the offense. The Piraeus team began with a quick 7-0 (50-46, 24') and increased the pressure on the ball, succeeding in only receiving 4 points in 8' of game time -at the same time controlling the rebounds- and subsequently closing the quarter at +8, 64-56. During the first five minutes of last quarter of the game, Evan Fournier remained the reference point of the 'red & white' offensive game (69-58, 33' and 71-62, 35'), with Virtus trying to find scoring solutions, but our team remaining vigilant with its defense, which produced a partial 8-0 (79-64, 37') that secured the win (final score 87-77).
The quarters: 29-17, 43-46, 64-56, 87-77