By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
For a second straight EuroLeague game, Olympiacos Piraeus used a fiery entrance to cruise to a blowout win. In a manner similar to what happened against Virtus Bologna, the Reds crushed a shorthanded Fenerbahce Beko 94 – 67 at home to register their second straight win in the competition.
Despite this result, Fener, that had to deal with multiple major absences (leading scorer Johnathan Motley, Dyshawn Pierre, and Scottie Wilbekin), remains the standings leader, now at 10 – 3. Olympiacos improved to 9-4.
Sasha Vezenkov scored 13 out of his 21 points in the first quarter where Olympiacos took a 31-11. The hosts had as many points as in the first period vs. Virtus thanks to a very potent offense while their opponents not only struggled to make their own shots but also committed eight turnovers in this quarter.
“I think we had an amazing first half,” Vezenkov said. “But we have a lot of things to look at from the second half; we made a lot of turnovers, so if we want to continue with this good streak that we have, we have to minimize our turnovers.”
While Fener improved its offensive game, Olympiacos remained strongly connected to the basket to take a 58 – 31 halftime advantage. Giorgos Bartzokas’ players had some stunning numbers at the break: 9 – 16 triples, 14-16 2-pointers, and 19 assists.
Fener finetuned its defense after the break and managed to cut the deficit to 19 when Marko Guduric made it 70 – 51 but that was it. Olympiacos answered with a 9 – 0 run and proceeded to increase the margin beyond 30.
Carsen Edwards (13 points on 4-12 shots), Ismet Akpinar (11 points) and Nick Calathes (10 points, five turnovers) were the only Fener players in double figures. “Definitely to hustle better and to not turn over the ball,” Fener coach Dimitris Itoudis said referring to the issues of his team.
Giannoulis Larentzakis and Alec Peters contributed 12 points apiece to Olympiacos’ win while Moustapha Fall had 11 points. George Pappas debuted for the Reds in EuroLeague, scoring a basket.
“It was very important [how we started the game], because our defense was really solid,” Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas said. “At the same time, in the half court, we had 19 assists and we scored almost 60 points – we had 58, I think. In the second half, we tried to handle this lead. In the end, we made 19 turnovers, which is really big, but Fener has talent, has class, and put pressure on our ball handlers. Anyway, it was an important win and the difference [on the scoreboard] was huge. We just need to forget this, because in two days we have another difficult game in France [against LCLC ASVEL Villeurbanne].”