By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Evan Fournier scored 14 out of his 15 points in the second half as Olympiacos Piraeus beat Olimpia Milano 76 – 71 in the semifinal of the International Basketball Tournament Crete.
Milano had shut down Olympiacos 31 – 26 at halftime thanks to a 12-5 run. Fournier went off after the break and led a 15-4 run for the Reds. His team kept pushing to take a 67 – 61 with three minutes remaining and grabbed the win.
Sasha Vezenkov added 12 points for Olympiacos while Tyson Ward dropped 10 points. The Greek side was without injured Keenan Evans along with Kostas Papanikolaou, Tyler Dorsey, Kostas Antetokounmpo and Giannoulis Larentzakis who just joined the team after the EuroBasket.
Zach LeDay (13 points, seven rebounds) and Lorenzo Brown (13 points, five assists) led Milano.
Olympiacos will face Crvena Zvezda in the tournament’s Final. The latter defeated EuroLeague reigning champion Fenerbahce Beko earlier on Friday (19/9).
In other preseason action, Joventut Badalona eliminated Barcelona 81 – 80 in the Catalan League semifinal behind 25 points by Cameron Hunt. Hunt also hit the winning free throws with five seconds to play.