Βy Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv tried his best, however, Olympiacos couldn’t be denied.
The Greeks got the 99-93 win over Maccabi and secured the top spot of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague regular season with a 24-10 record.
Evan Fournier had 27 points on 10/13 FG, Sasha Vezenkov added 21 points and seven rebounds, Moses Wright, playing alone on the center position, added 18 points, and Alec Peters scored 17 and made the play that sealed the deal in the closing seconds.
On top of that, Nigel Williams-Goss scored two points but also dished 13 assists, making just one turnover.
“We are hungry to make it to the Final Four, I hope we will not need five games to qualify”, said Vezenkov after the game.
Trevion Williams, with 17 points, was the top scorer of Maccabi, which played just for pride.
Roman Sorkin and Rokas Jokubaitis added 16 points each.
A close fight until the end
The two teams had 11 players available each, with the hosts missing Fall, Milutinov, Vildoza, and Walkup and still waiting for the return of Keenan Evans.
Τhe game was a shootout in the first half, with Olympiacos leading 31-28 after the first 10 minutes of action and 51-48 at halftime.
Olympiacos finally created some distance with a 10-2 run to start the third quarter (61-50), but entering the last period, the score was tied at 70.
The Greeks scored five unanswered points (75-70), creating a small advantage, and kept the lead until the end.
To be exact, Fournier extended it to seven points (91-84) entering the last three minutes, and Maccabi couldn’t get into sticking distance after that.
To be exact, Rokas Jokubaitis trimmed the lead to four (95-91) with 22 seconds left.
Fournier was fouled and missed both his free throws, but Alec Peters got the rebounds, made his free throws (97-91), and decided the game.
Photo credit: EuroLeague