Comfortable on the road victory

Olympiacos was not affected by the lot of important absences (Spanoulis, Papanikolaou and Tillie were out) and got a comfortable victory against Kymi in Chalkida (85-56), in a game were Brian Roberts and Nikos Aresenopoulos got to debut in our team's jersey in an official game capacity.

All the more, in his first ever appearance with the A1 League, the Greek guard got to score 4 points with 2/2 shots in 10:54'' playing time!

Thanks to being dominant at rebounding, but also thanks to Holis Thompson who was on fire and scored 13 points in the first quarter, the 'reds' imposed their rhythm and quickly built a 13 points margin (19-6 at 8'). Despite the fact that Giannis Sfairopoulos was experimenting using different line ups, Olympiacos relied on its good defense and furthered the distance (+21, 21-42 at 19') and went to the locker rooms after the completion of half time leading by 20 (23-43).

The defensive passiveness of the 'reds' combined to bad offensive choices, allowed Kymi to close in to 12p. (33-45 at 23'). However, Olympiacos' response was imminent and with a partial 16-2 streak sent the difference to +26 (35-61 at 20'). The development of the game gave Giannis Sfairopoulos the opportunity to rest some key players. Despite all of that, the difference went as far as +31 (41-72 at 34') and remained at similar range till the end of the game.

The quarters: 10-21, 23-43, 35-61, 56-85
Kymi (Κastritis): Okereafor 11(2), Τsagkarakis 10(2), Glyniadakis 2, Ο'Brien, Smith 5, Μanolopoulos 6(2), Edwards, Geromichalos 10, Jones, Sakelariou, Traylor 12, Μitsimponas
Οlympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Αgravanis 11(6 reb.), Μilutinov 12(4 reb.), Strelnieks 2, Μantzaris 4, Thompson 18 (2), ΜcLean 4, Τoliopoulos 11(3), Papapetrou 9(1 3p, 7 reb., 2 st.), Αrsenopoulos 4, Roberts, Bogris 2, Printezis 8(8 reb.)

Mantzaris injured

During the game, Vangelis Mantzaris suffered a contusion of the first metatarsal left foot and will tomorrow (16/10) undergo an x-ray diagnostic. "We still don't know how serious his injury is" coach Sfairopoulos said. "He hurt his big toe falling down during a drive. He could not go on. We'll see… I don't think it's something very serious".

Sfairopoulos: "Congrats to everyone"

Coach Sfairopoulos congratulated both the opponent and his players… "Congratulations to Kymi for their competitiveness and to coach Kastritis for a job well done. I think that Kymi has a great future. They are a principled team, they have a good roster, a good coach, so they have the future to look forward to. We wish to thank the Olympiacos fans, as well as the fans from Evoia that came to watch the game", he said and continued with the game analysis: "We were more focused, we began the game quite well, we imposed the rhythm, got a two digit difference and the more time was passing, we got to widen the berth. We did make a good start with the 3rd quarter. We weren't good in the first 3-4 minutes, however, after the time out, I think things changed. We got to play reasonable in both ends of the court and won the game using all our players. It's important that all the guys that got to play showed good spirits and high focus. Our mental levels of focus and will were high and played a good game".  

Asked on the many injuries and how much they affect his work, he answered: "We need to work and continue moving forward. I believe in all my players and I believe that everyone is capable of doing the best for the team. That's why we have this roster. If I wasn't having faith in someone, then they wouldn't be on the roster. All of our 15 players are worthy to play. We need to continue working. We can still get better. There were blank spaces with our game on both ends of the floor. We can function even better and have even more good offensive and defensive plays within a game".

In regard to whether he will be getting a new player to cover for Kim Tillie who will be off courts for the next 4.5 to 5 months, he said: "It's still very early and we haven't decided yet. We will discuss with the administration and see what can be done. There are three players for every position. We already have Printezis and Agravanis for the '4" position, McLean can cover for that as well. So, we are not in a hurry. If we get a player, he will have to be a good one before anything else. We are looking for quality".

Αrsenopoulos: "Huge experience"

The 17 year old Nikos Arsenopoulos said after his first A1 appearance in his career: "It is certainly a new and huge experience for me, but it's still basketball, so I'm trying for the best. Through practices, all players get into rhythm and are ready to play".