Back to winning
Olympiacos beat Villeurbanne 107–84, putting on a strong performance and returned to winning in the EuroLeague, improving its record to 9–7.
Our team was in excellent form, led by Vezenkov (17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists), Dorsey (22 points, 6 assists), Fournier (21 points) and Milutinov (10 points, 6 rebounds), and claimed a comfortable victory over the French side at the Christmas-themed SEF.
Giorgos Bartzokas started the game with Walkup, Dorsey, Papanikolaou, Vezenkov and Milutinov, and our captain scored the first points of the game for the 'red & whites' with a triple. A few minutes later, Papanikolaou left the starting lineup after receiving a hard hit to the face from Vautier, with Fournier entering the game.
The French guard, together with Dorsey, were Olympiacos’ main offensive weapons in the first quarter, combining for 17 of our team’s 26 points in the first 10 minutes of the game.
In the second quarter, Olympiacos started nervously, as shown by four fouls in 80'', along with poor decision-making on offense. The one to light the spark for Olympiacos offensively at that point was Evan Fournier, who scored enought personal points to give our team a double-digit lead (34–23 at 15').
Sasha Vezenkov then took over. The Bulgarian forward re-entered the game in place of the struggling Alec Peters and, with five quick points, reaching a total of 9 for himself, sent Olympiacos back to +10 (44–34) at halftime.
In the third quarter, it was Tyler Dorsey’s time to shine. The Greek-American guard hit two consecutive threes and, together with Vezenkov and Milutinov, pushed the lead close to 20 points (62–44 at 26'). Shortly after, the Serbian center made it 67–46 with a dunk and was cheered by the SEF crowd, becoming the 4th Olympiacos player in double figures after Fournier, Vezenkov and Dorsey.
Olympiacos played its best basketball in the third quarter, winning it 31–22 and entering the final stretch with a 19-point lead (75–56).
During the last 10 minutes, the 'red & whites' controlled the tempo and kept the margin close to 20 points, while Evan Fournier produced his best offensive display, finishing the game with 21 points. Two minutes before the end, Olympiacos surpassed the 100-point mark with a 3-pointer by Alec Peters. This was the team’s second game scoring over 100 points after the opening round. The final score (107–84) was set by Omiros Netzipoglou, who scored his first points in the EuroLeague.
Olympiacos’ next game is on Sunday (21/12) against Kolossos for the Stoiximan GBL.
The quarters: 26–14, 44–34, 75–56, 107–84.
