The Reds again got big games from Sasha Vezenkov and Shaquielle McKissic
Olympiacos thrashes Milan, 89-68, for second straight home win
Olympiacos Piraeus recorded its second consecutive victory at home by crushing EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in Round 3 of the 2024-35 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign. The hosts dominated from the off at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, won all four quarters and looked solid on defense for the second game in a row. With this win on Tuesday night, Olympiacos improved to 2-1, while Milan dropped to 1-2.
Sasha Vezenkov and Shaquielle McKissic netted 22 points each to lead all scorers, with captain Kostas Papanikolaou adding 13. Zach LeDay paced the visiting team with 16 points, Ousmane Diop scored 14 and Giampaolo Ricci added 11.
The hosts got off to a strong start, with Vezenkov netting the first 5 points of the game and Moustapha Fall scoring a hook for a 7-0 run. Then, Evan Fournier opened his account before a second Vezenkov triple extended Olympiacos’s lead to 12-2. Diop scored Milan’s first field goal of the night midway through the first quarter before LeDay completed a three-point play to cut the difference to 14-7. A few Olympiacos turnovers allowed Milan to go on a 2-13 surge, with Fabien Causeur and Leandro Bolmaro nailing a triple each to put the visitors ahead, 16-17. Yet, Olympiacos responded with a 7-0 run, with Papanikolaou nailing a buzzer-beating jumper to restore a 23-17 lead heading into the second quarter.
LeDay scored 5 points to start the second, but McKissic replied with a three-point play on the other end, 26-22. Diop dunked in transition to end a 7-0 Olympiacos run inspired by McKissic and brought Milan within 33-26. Then, 3 points from Luca Vildoza were followed by a McKissic layup to beat the second-quarter buzzer and give Olympiacos a 39-27 cushion at the break.
Game Videos
Papanikolaou and Ricci traded triples before a Thomas Walkup layup in transition extended the Olympiacos lead to 45-30. But Ricci nailed two triples and Neno Dimitrijevic scored one of his own in a 0-11 run that was brought to an end by 4 free throws from Vezenkov that made it 49-41. Then, Shields sank one from deep, but two Papanikolaou buckets and a triple from Vezenkov gave Olympiacos a 56-44 cushion. Olympiacos pulled away heading into the closing quarter, with Fournier scoring his first triple of the night and Vezenkov taking his tally to 22 points for a 63-48 cushion.
McKissic hit the ground running in the fourth and extended Olympiacos’s lead to 68-51 with 5 personal points. Yet, Milan wouldn’t give up and fought back, trimming the deficit to 70-57 thanks to a 0-6 run. A timeout from head coach Georgios Bartzokas served as a wake-up call for his players, with Alec Peters and Vildoza netting one each from deep to make it 80-59. Milan did respond with a 0-5 run, but a Vildoza dagger set an 83-64 lead and practically put the game to bed.