By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
It was a dramatic finish and Olympiacos Piraeus got past fiery UNICS Kazan with an 87-84 overtime victory in Round 13 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague to improve to a 9-4 record and remain in the third place of the standings.
Olympiacos logged four quick points at the start of the extra five-minute period, though UNICS followed with its own short run. Kostas Sloukas stepped to the free-throw line to finally earn the win for the Reds, as time was running short for the hosts.
Tyler Dorsey (8 points) went through the first half with limited contribution but stepped for Olympiacos in the fourth quarter with key plays, including a block on John Brown with 1:27 remaining in regulation to give his team a breather, though shortly after it was Tonye Jekiri who evened the score and sent the game to overtime (77-77).
Sasha Vezenkov had a stellar performance for Georgios Bartzokas’ squad, as he posted 22 points, to go along with 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists, for a total PIR of 36, close to his career-high.
Sloukas followed with 12 points and 8 assists for the Reds, while Moustapha Fall and Giannoulis Larentzakis both tapped 10 points for Olympiacos.
“I don’t know [how we won]. We made so many mistakes, it’s like we try to commit suicide a lot of times during the game. We controlled it. […] ςe managed to win this game, so it’s a team win that I really appreciate. It’s a great team win on the road, so congratulations to our players, and let’s focus on the next game now”, commented Georgios Bartzokas after the victory.
Lorenzo Brown led all UNICS scorers with 21 points, while Isaiah Canaan fired up three consecutive three-pointers for his team early in the third quarter and finished the game with 20 points. John Brown and Mario Hezonja tapped 11 points apiece and the Russian side now falls to a 7-5 record.
Photo: EuroLeague