Easily at the semis
Olympiacos met no obstacles in the Ilysiakos home court, won 85-54 and advanced to the Greek Cup semifinals.
Olympiacos began the game determined to set the pace and did so from the beginning of the encounter. Only two minutes into the game and the Back2Back European Champions were already leading by 7 (9-2). Petway and Dunston were doing a great job; they completely dominated both ends of the court and the reds were leading 21-6 after seven minutes from the jump ball while the difference even surpassed 20 points, with the first quarter finishing 33-12.
The team slowed down in the second quarter but still maintained an over 15 points lead. The players of Giorgos Bartzokas kept complete control. Sloukas and Lojeski took the reins from Petway and Dunston and the half time ended 47-29 for Olympiacos.
Four minutes into the second quarter, Olympiacos reached the broadest difference up to that point (54-32). The difference later dropped to 13 points (56-43), only two minutes before the end of the third quarter. Immediately after though, the players of Giorgos Bartzokas run a 6-0 streak and closed the quarter at +19 (62-43).
Just like in the previous three quarters, the same into the last one and Olympiacos maintained absolute control of the game. Five minutes before the end of the quarter-final, Ioannis Papapetrou scored one of two free throws and sent the difference to plus 25 points (72-47). The team of Giorgos Bartzokas led by even 31 points (83-52) two minutes before the end, before reaching the final 85-54.
Τhe quarters: 12-33, 29-47, 43-62, 54-85
Ilysiakos (Liogas): Kafkis 5, Fakopoulos 2, Antonakis 3, Smith 3 (1), Anderson 16 (2), Zoumbos 2, Dorkofikis 2, Bonds 11, Vavatsikos 4, Ioannou 4, Tsougarakis 2.
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Petway 12 (2 3p, 9reb), Agravanis 6, Dunston 8 (5reb), Mantzaris 6, Perperoglou 9 (7reb), Papapetrou 5, Sloukas 10, Katsivelis 6, Simmons 6, Lojeski 17 (2 3p, 6as), Printezis.
QUOTES:
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: “You can always derive some conclusions from any game or practice session. For sure there are things to fix since it’s very early in the season. We see this game as one more pre-season one. Everybody is going to be playing with everybody else, we may not be ready yet, but Panathinaikos is not ready either. No team is ready at the moment. We have to see who we have available to play since we’ve been facing some problems. Law will definitely not be playing against Panathinaikos. We are at a disadvantage and without this being our fault we start at -2. We have faith in our players and as soon as the chemistry is the proper one we are going to be much better. I haven’t yet talked to my players about how we are going to be playing against Panathinaikos. There are three practice days ahead of us in terms of training, tactically and psychologically. We have three more days to prepare, we are not going to be having our fans with us which is bad, but we are going to be trying for the best”
ΙOANNIS PAPAPETROU: “It’s a great feeling to debuting in an official game. It’s been a huge experience for me. The team is not ready yet, there is a big game ahead of us on Monday and we have to be the readiest possible. I have been practicing normally since I have overcome the problem I’ve been facing. It’s a great honor for me to be playing for the Back2Back European Champions and I’m going to do my best”
PANAGIOTIS KAFKIS: “The Cup game is totally different to the League game against Patra. We are going there to fight for the win. Our first goal is to secure the category the soonest possible”.