First defeat for the Greek League

The winning streak of Olympiacos for the Greek League ended in Pylaia since the team of Giorgos Bartzokas was bested by PAOK 76-71 at premiere of the second round of the Greek League.

The winning streak of Olympiacos for the Greek League ended in Pylaia since the team of Giorgos Bartzokas was bested by PAOK 76-71 at premiere of the second round of the Greek League.

The game started in the worst possible way for Olympiacos, since half into the first quarter Vangelis Mantzaris was injured. However, the team quickly overcame the original shock and led 21-20.

The players of Giorgos Bartzokas lost their concentration in the second quarter and allowed PAOK to take a 39-37 lead. The two teams continued going neck to neck in the second half with the Thessaloniki team leading 55-54 at the end of the third quarter.

It was Vassilis Spanoulis and Stratos Perperoglou that turned the score from 60-56 in favor of the hosts to 64-60 at 30’. Nevertheless, the Piraeus players did not succeed in maintaining the lead and were defeated 76-71.

Τ he quarters: 20-21, 39-37, 55-54, 76-71
PAOK (Markopoulos):Κaselakis 4, Charalampidis 15 (2), McGrath 10 (1), Theodorakos, Τsairelis 10, Dedas 8 (2), Papadopoulos 13, Κalles 3, Charitopoulos 13 (1). Οlympiacos (Bartzokas):Hines 4, Antic 2, Spanoulis 17 (2), Shermadini 4, Sloukas 9, Gecevicius, Printezis 16 (2), Papanikolaou 6 (1), Mantzaris 3 (1), Perperoglou 10, Georgakis.

GIORGOS BARZTOKAS: “I would like to congratulate PAOK and the coach. They believed in victory and stuck with their plan. If we were to lose a game in the season, this is exactly how it would have happened. We played three games on the road in six days. Patrai, Tel Aviv, Thessaloniki. We have had many injury problems. We didn’t have Law with us, or Powell, or Mavroeidis, Katsivelis got injured yesterday and Mantzaris tonight. Our big guys got fouled early in the game and we had to change our game plan. We have great responsibility for losing and of course, we gave Mr. Stamatopoulos (i.e. game referee) to add his personal touch. We have our own luck into our hands, we have to beat Panathinaikos in our home court and keep the absolute advantage to the end. A referee never calls a technical foul when you are asking for an unsportsmanlike one, which by the way happened for sure. This is what I think, if you think otherwise, you are free to say so. I congratulated PAOK, but when there are only 10’’ to the game and you object for not calling an unsportsmanlike foul, don’t call a technical. Mr. Markopoulos had also entered the gym but did not get a technical. Our doctor has said that Vangelis cannot play the next game, he’s going to have an MRI and we’ll see exactly what the problem is”.  
Κ OSTAS SLOUKAS : “It’s a very bad defeat. There have been many reasons and Mantzaris’ injury added another one, but we have to beat both Fenerbahce and Panathinaikos now. There is no other road for us. There are no excuses. We are members of a huge team and we have to do our part”.