Ι.Β.Τ. Crete: Οlympiacos - Armani 76-71

Olympiacos bested Armani Milan 76-71 and on Sunday (21/09) will be facing off Crvena Zvezda for the final of the International Basket Tournament Crete.

The 11-4 score of the first five minutes of the game, that resulted from efforts by Sasha Vezenkov, Nikola Milutinov and Tyson Ward, became 11-12 (7'), with our team receing an 8-0 streak due to bad offensive decisions that resulted in inefficient defensive transition. The Piraeus team found it hard to get into offensive rhythm, but thanks to two good defensive plays, they got to respond with a 6-0 of their own and closed the quarter at +5 (17-12). Thomas Walkup put a stop to the 5-0 the Italians pulled in the beginning of the second quarter (19-17, 13'), with Alec Peters making the score 21-19 (15'). Due to the lack of clear thinking by our team offense wise, Armani regained the lead running a partial 5-12, with half time ending at 26-31.

The second half began with a triple by Thomas Walkup and with Nikola Milutinov finishing two plays in the post (33-35, 22'). Lack of robust defending, had Olympiacos trailing by 13 (36-49, 26'). At that point, Evan Fournier took over and with 2 'big' threes and our team running a partial 15-4, made for a two-point game (51-53). The 'red & whites' upped their defensive intensity, found points in the transition and got the lead in the last quarter, with a 12-4 partial score (63-57, 35'). Our team got to lead by 6 (67-61, 37') and eventually got the 76-71 win.

 The quarters: 17-12, 26-31, 51-53, 76-71