A «Party» in Istanbul!
Olympiacos bested Fenerbahce/Ulker 74-68 in Istanbul and now has a 3-0 record for the Euroleague TOP-16.
Our team began the game well and due to good defense the Olympiacos players were ahead 8-9 in the first five minutes of the game. From that point on, however, the home team thanks to Goudelock turned the situation and managed to get a six point lead (22-16) at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Olympiacos with Lojeski, Printezis and Spanoulis being unstoppable, but also Lafayette as well (he got injured and did not play anymore) took the game exactly where he wanted to. Defense was impenetrable, the three players were scoring from everywhere and hence the Giannis Sfairopoulos team was leading 36-43 at the end of the first half.
With a three by Tremel Darden, Olympiacos succeeded in sending the difference to +10 (36-46) at the beginning of the second half. Olympiacos maintained the lead during the whole third quarter. Each time Fenerbahce/Ulker was closing in, the players of Giannis Sfairopoulos had the answers and with Lojeski scoring a three from the corner 44-52 was written on the scoreboard at 28' while the third quarter ended 52-56 in favor of the 'reds'.
The scenery changed in two minutes in the last quarter, since the Turks with a 7-0 streak once again regained the lead (59-56). But Olympiacos returned and tied the game 62-62 with Fener once again being ahead 66-62, 02:30 before the end. Printezis wrote 66-65 and Bogdanovic with a three gave his team the 68-65 lead. But from that point on, Olympiacos swept Fenerbahce off from the court and with a 9-0 run reached the 68-74 victory.
The quarters: 22-16, 36-43, 52-56, 68-74.
Fenerbahce/Ulker (Obradovic): Goudelock 23 (5), Zisis, Bjelica 9, Erden, Bogdanovic 10 (2), Savas, Zoric, Vesely 13, Sipahi 4, Preldzic 9 (1).
Olympiacos (Sfairopoulos): Petway, Hunter 4 (3reb), Dunston 6 (5reb), Spanoulis 16 (3 3p, 3reb, 6as), Printezis 7 (1 3p), Mantzaris 5 (1), Katsivelis 2, Lafayette 6 (2), Darden 5 (1), Lojeski 18 (3 3p., 8reb, 2st, 2as).
GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: "It's a great victory for our Club and I want to congratulate my players. It's always very difficult to beat a good team such as Fener in their home court. We did not start the game well, we weren't good in defense and allowed them easy baskets. Fener got the lead, but I think we controlled the game in the second quarter, improved our defense and did not allow our opponent to score. We found good rhythm through our defense, we shot well and this gave us a lead at half-time. We expected Fener to react in the second quarter and they did, but at the end we showed how tough we are, we came back with solid and clear decisions, with good offensive choices, we were getting the rebounds in defense, we played a solid game. The importance of the victory is immense; we lost two important players for us during the game, Brent Petway and Oliver Lafayette. Plus we made the comeback in their home court, which ads even more value to our victory".