Olympiacos Piraeus found no resistance from FC Bayern Munich to claim an 83-60 win at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Wednesday night. The Reds kept their perfect record at home (7-0) to improve to 10-5, while the visitors dropped to 7-8.
Olympiacos thumps Bayern to remain unbeaten at home, 83-60
A 10-0 run within the first 4 minutes of the game fueled the hosts to a 26-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, which extended to 49-24 at halftime to sink the guests early. Sasha Vezenkov led the winners with 16 points and 9 rebounds for a PIR of 24. Giannoulis Larentzakis followed with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc and Thomas Walkup and Tyler Dorsey netted 13 and 10 points, respectively. Augustine Rubit led Bayern with 10 points.
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The hosts had a strong defensive performance in the early going, forcing Bayern to 4 turnovers in the opening 3 minutes. The visitors’ offensive drought lasted for 2 minutes more, but when Ognjen Jaramaz hit from downtown, the Reds were already leading 10-3. A short jumper by Dorsey and a three-point play by Vezenkov kept Olympiacos rolling, with no other player but Jaramaz scoring for the guests. Vezenkov found a helpful hand on offense in Martin, who strung together three inside buckets to close the first period with the Reds dominating 26-10.
DeShaun Thomas tried to get Bayern going with 5 points in a row, but the home team continued scoring with ease on the other end, so the difference remained. Larentzakis converted a basket-plus-foul, Kostas Sloukas beat the shot-clock buzzer with a tough jumper and Fall tipped in a shot to make it a 20-point game midway through the second quarter. Even though the scoring flow went down a bit for the hosts, Bayern’s struggles in offense prevented the visitors from getting any closer and reached halftime trailing 49-24.
Both teams had a slow start after the break, as only two players from each side managed to provide some scoring. Vladimir Lucic hit a three and Rubit added a basket for Bayern. Fall signed off a monster fastbreak dunk and Walkup contributed a three-point play for a 54-29 lead. Another run, this time 11-0, capped by the first three-pointer of the night for the home team coming from Larentzakis, dug it deeper to 65-31. Bayern answered with 6 quick points to lessen its wounds a little bit, 65-37, entering the last period.
Larentzakis hit twice from downtown to restore a 24-point margin, 71-37, right after the game resumed. Othello Hunter replied from inside, but Olympiacos seemed to have already found some accuracy from long range. Vezenkov connected on a corner three soon after to keep Olympiacos above the 30-point margin with 7 minutes remaining. Rubit and Hunter combined in the paint before Nihad Dedovic and Andreas Obst showed up from deep to cap a 0-15 run that brought the visitors within 74-56. Sloukas went to the line to break it and Shaquielle McKissic chained together a couple of threes to finally put the game on ice.