Defeated at the OAKA

Olympiacos was defeated by Panathinaikos at the OAKA (80-68) in the first final of the Stoiximan GBL.

After Panathinaikos' initial 6-0 run, our team responded with a 9-0 run of its own thanks to Moustapha Fall, Sasha Vezenkov, and Alec Peters (6-9, 4'). The 'red & whites' won the rebounding battle, with the French center dominating the paint and collecting 4 offensive boards, but were far from good from the perimeter (1/6) (11-13, 6'). With a 5-0 run, the 'greens' took the lead (18-15, 8'), capitalizing on their three-point shooting, but Sasha Vezenkov scored 4 straight points to make it 18-19, with the quarter ending at 20-19.

With Kostas Papanikolaou making only Olympiacos’ second three-pointer, the score became 22-25, but the hosts increased their defensive pressure, disrupting our offensive rhythm, went on an 8-0 run, and took control (30-25, 16'). Alec Peters offered a temporary “breather” for the Piraeus team (30-28), but unforced errors led to another 7-0 run for the 'greens' (37-28). Moustapha Fall and Alec Peters cut the deficit to 38-34 (19'), but poor defensive reactions and new mistakes allowed Panathinaikos to end the half with an 8-point lead (42-34).

Evan Fournier and Alec Peters provided solutions at the start of the third quarter (44-38), but Panathinaikos continued scoring from the long range (47-38). Fournier and Vezenkov responded (49-44, 26'), but the lack of defensive intensity allowed the hosts to go up by 10 (54-44), with the quarter ending at 58-50. Moustapha Fall and Saben Lee scored early in the final period (62-56, 33'), but Panathinaikos maintained control (68-58). Evan Fournier brought the deficit back to single digits (68-61, 35'), but poor shooting and lack of defensive intensity led to an 8-0 run by the hosts (74-61, 36'). Sasha Vezenkov cut the deficit to 10 points (76-66, 38'), but our team couldn’t manage to claim the win (80-68).

The quarters: 20-19, 42-34, 58-50, 80-68