And now the final!

Olympiacos bested AEK 76-70 and got the ticket to the Greek Cup Final, to face off against Panathinaikos (20/02, 16:00 CET).

The ‘reds’ had a sluggish beginning. Bad decisions in the offense and gaps in the defense allowed AEK that was missing a lot of its roster to close the first quarter at +2 (16-18). Kostas Papanikolaou continued offering offensive solutions to our team, that although regained the lead (29-24 at 15’), was not able to find rhythm and went to the locker rooms at the end of the first half with a mere +3 (32-29).

In the second half, Olympiacos pressed in the defense, moved the ball better when attacking, found target from the perimeter and increased the margin to 9 points for the first time (45-36). Moustapha Fall was clearly dominant in the post and with Sasha Vezenkov taking a leading role in scoring, the ‘reds’ completely imposed their rhythm and sent the difference to 16 points (56-40 at 29’).

The ‘reds’ got to lead even by 18p. (60-42), but they inexcusably got to relax giving room to AEK to close in at 5p. (66-61 at 38’). Leaning on their defense and running a 5-0 streak with Walkup and Sloukas, Olympiacos raised the margin to 10p. (71-61 at 39’), AEK that kept fighting all along took advantage of the ‘reds’ mistakes closed in at 5p. (75-70, 10’’ before the final buzzer), however, the victory had already been decided. The final 76-70 was written by Thomas Walkup who scored one of two free throws.

The quarters:16-18, 32-29, 56-42, 76-70.