By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
A mid-range jumper by James Augustine with two seconds remaining handed Unicaja Malaga an 87 – 85 overtime win over Olympiacos in the team’s last Euroleague game at home for 2017-2018.
Every player of the Reds expected Nemanja Nedovic to shoot the ball in this offensive play by the Andalusian squad but the Serbian guard dished his third assist in the match to his wide-open teammate who converted the shot.
Nedovic also scored a team-high 17 points for Malaga, seven of them in the fourth quarter, when his team turned the tide of the match, plus the game-tying bucket that forced an extra period.
After erasing a 16-point deficit with which they fell back during the first half, Olympiacos went up by seven, 67 – 74 with three minutes left in regulation. Malaga proceeded to shut down its opponents to get another fighting chance.
The guests were leading in the majority of overtime but a sequence of 3-pointers in the last minutes, one by Dani Diez and two by Adam Waczynski got Unicaja back in the game. Ioannis Papapetrou, who had scored for the 82 – 85, missed a layup attempt with the game tied and then Augustine gave victory to Malaga.
With Vassilis Spanoulis’ guidance (15 points, 8 assists), Olympiacos outscored Malaga 7 – 23 (!) in the third period but didn’t endure enough in the fourth. With his fourth dime in the match, the captain of the Greek side also became the EuroLeague all-time assists leader, surpassing former teammate in Panathinaikos Dimitris Diamantidis but didn’t combine this accomplishment with a win.
This result dropped Olympiacos to 19-10 and “locked” second place for Fenerbahce. Already eliminated Unicaja Malaga improved to 12 – 17.