By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Sasha Vezenkov scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Olympiacos Piraeus beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 95 – 89 in front of a sold-out crowd in Peace and Friendship arena. Thanks to their third consecutive win, the Reds improve to 14- 7 and remain in the first place in the standings.
Maccabi dropped to 11 – 10. Roman Sorkin registered a career-high 23 points plus nine rebounds, leading the charge in a comeback effort by the Yellows from down 51 – 34 at halftime with 16 points in the third quarter.
With 7:10 to play, Suleiman Braimoh brought Maccabi close 73 – 69 but Olympiacos responded with a 7 – 0 run to reclaim a double-digit advantage. When Wade Baldwin made the triple for the 89 – 83 with a minute remaining, Thomas Walkup drained the dagger from beyond the arc to cap a brilliant personal night of nine points and a career-high 12 assists.
Baldwin scored 14 points and dished out eight assists but struggled to make shots, finishing with 4-16 while committing six turnovers. Bonzie Colson posted 13 points plus 11 rebounds and Jalen Adams also dropped 13 points for a Maccabi team that led 8 – 18 in the first quarter but lost that lead almost in the blink of an eye.
Olympiacos recovered quickly from that early deficit to establish a steady lead in the second quarter and proceeded to retain an advantage until the end despite Kostas Sloukas‘ exit with injury.
Tarik Black came off the bench to become a major factor for the Reds in a second straight game, being a +23 at halftime, while completing the game with nine points. Shaq McKissic provided 13 points and lots of defensive helps while Kostas Papanikolaou scored 10.