Georgios Printezis played the hero role once again for his beloved Olympiacos Piraeus by scoring the game-winner in the final seconds to lift the Reds to a 79-81 road win over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall on Thursday.
Printezis lifts Olympiacos late in Belgrade
Game Report
1 Min read
Georgios Printezis played the hero role once again for his beloved Olympiacos Piraeus by scoring the game-winner in the final seconds to lift the Reds to a 79-81 road win over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall on Thursday. The visitors trailed by as many as 16 in the first half and led by 9 in the fourth in the thriller. Olympiacos won its second game of the week to improve to 7-5, while Zvezda lost its fourth straight game to fall to 4-9. Printezis led Olympiacos with 16 points, Vassilis Spanoulis scored 14, Aaron Harrison and Kostas Sloukas netted 12 points apiece and Giannoulis Larentzakis scored a personal-best 11. Sloukas also dished 7 assists. Johnny O'Bryant paced Zvezda with 16 points, Corey Walden and Jordan Loyd each scored 13 and Marko Jagodic-Kuridza added 10.
Regular Season
Round 14 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Both teams needed time to find their rhythm with each scoring just once in the first 2 minutes. Walden heated up with a pair of three-pointers and O'Bryant added another as the hosts jumped ahead 14-5. Though Livio Jean-Charles scored to end the visitors' drought, free throws by Ognjen Dobric gave Zvezda a double-digit lead and Dejan Davidovac extended it to 20-7. Jagodic-Kuridza's triple took the difference to 16 before a jumper by Sloukas ended the first quarter at 30-16. Olympiacos got going in the second quarter, though Zvezda kept pace. A Spanoulis triple closed the gap to 37-27 midway through the quarter. The Olympiacos legend did his best to continue the comeback and his free throws made it 45-37 at the break.
Harrison came out for the second half with a hot hand and drained a trio of three-pointers to bring his team within 52-50 midway through the third quarter. Octavius Ellis scored on consecutive possessions to give the visitors their first lead since the opening minutes, 52-54. Threes by Jagodic-Kuridza and Dobric got the hosts back in charge, but free throws by Larentzakis and Printezis kept Olympiacos close. A three by Larentzakis gave the Reds a 61-62 edge at the end of the quarter. Spanoulis and Printezis teamed up on the first two baskets of the fourth to extend the margin. Larentzakis made it a 0-8 start to the quarter before Jagodic-Kuridza's tip-in ended the Zvezda drought. Davidovac also scored on the offensive glass before Loyd completed an 8-0 response to make it 69-70 with a little more than 5 minutes left in regulation. An acrobatic basket by Loyd tied the score at 76-76 with less than 3 minutes to go. O'Bryant pushed Zvezda ahead with free throws with 1:30 on the clock and Printezis evened it with a move in the post at 41.9. Spanoulis split free throws with 8.6 seconds to play to put Olympiacos up 78-79 and after a Zvezda timeout, O'Bryant drew a foul with 6.8 seconds and only made 1 foul shot. Olympiacos got the ball to Printezis, who scored the game-winner with 3.2 seconds remaining.
Game Leaders
Telling numbers
Olympiacos overcame its 20 turnovers and allowing Zvezda to take 12 offensive rebounds with excellent shooting. The Reds made 17 of 25 two-pointers (68.0%) and 12 of 23 threes (52.2%). It was its best shooting night of the season in two-pointers and second-best in threes after converting 52.9% against Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Round 6.
Surprise contributor
Giannoulis Larentzakis had played more than 5 minutes in a game only once in his previous five appearances this season, but on this night Coach Bartzokas gave the big guard extended playing time and was rewarded handsomely. Larentzakis made 3 of 4 three-pointers and was fouled on his only drive to the lane, which resulted in 2 free throws made. He spent 15:48 on the floor and finished with a personal-best 11 points plus 2 rebounds.