The home team played ironclad defense after the break to get back to winning ways
Olympiacos sinks Virtus, 87-77, thanks to strong second half
Olympiacos Piraeus improved to 10-6 in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with a workmanlike 87-77 home win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna (3-13), having ramped up its defense in the second half after spilling an 18-point lead in the first.
Sasha Vezenkov capped a fine individual performance with a game-high 27 points and added 10 rebounds for an impressive double-double, while Evan Fournier added 20 points, 7 assists and 5 boards for the home team. Alec Peters chipped in with 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Marco Belinelli paced Virtus on 20 points and Matt Morgan added 15 for the visitors, who staged a brief second-quarter comeback to turn a 25-7 deficit into a 43-46 lead at halftime but were unable to keep up their momentum after the interval.
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Determined to make amends for last week’s crushing 87-73 defeat at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, Olympiacos came out with all guns blazing and led 29-17 at the end of the first quarter. Vezenkov rifled in 14 points on the back of effervescent shooting, 4 of 4 from the floor and 5 of 5 from the foul line.
Olympiacos had dished out 9 assists in the opening period and then suffered a complete meltdown in the second, as Virtus gradually clawed its way back into the contest with Belinelli catching fire. The evergreen 38-year-old veteran sank 12 of his 14 first-half points in the second quarter, allowing Virtus to nose ahead at the interval after Will Clyburn drained a buzzer-beating triple off the glass. The visiting team had totally turned the tables on Olympiacos, dishing out assists like confetti while the home side’s offense came to a screeching halt at the other end.
Facing the prospect of another embarrassing defeat, the Greek outfit shifted back to top gear in the third quarter as Vezenkov, who had a quiet second quarter, rediscovered his scoring touch in the third while Fournier caught fire from all over.
A 7-0 run enabled Olympiacos to turn the tide and the hosts never looked back after edging ahead 50-46, as they went on to engineer a commanding 64-56 advantage ahead of the final 10 minutes.
Virtus was still in it early in the fourth when it trailed 71-64, but the writing was on the wall for the Italian team after a Vezenkov triple ignited an 8-0 Olympiacos run which effectively sealed the contest. The visitors fought hard to keep the deficit down but ran out of time down the stretch, as Olympiacos closed it out for a hard-fought victory.