Winner of the Milan battle

Olympiacos edged Armani 84-83 in Milan for the 18th round of the Euroleague.

Olympiacos began the game focusing on the defensive end, but struggled to find scoring opportunities. The hosts got to lead 5-2 at 3', but Evan Fournier took over facilitating the game (4 assists) and Sasha Vezenkov scored enough for the guests to close into one point (10-9, 6') and the first quarter ending tied at 19 points. The second quarter began with a partial 7-0 by Armani which was the product of poor decision making and consecutive turnovers by our team, which allowed easy scoring for the hosts (26-19, 11'). At that point, Sasha Vezenkov stepped up and with seven points of his own made the score 30-26 (13'), while Kostas Papanikolaou scored for a 2-point game (30-28). Turnovers and missed shots gave Armani the chance to lead once again (38-32, 18'), with half-time ending with Olympiacos having a narrow lead (40-41), following an improvement in our team's offensive game and seven points scored in the transition by Williams-Goss, Vildoza and Peters.

Ineffecient defense allowed for a 7-0 by the hosts in the third quarter (49-45, 22'), up until Evan Fournier took oer. The French guard/forward scored a three that made the score 49-48, 24'), while he then stole the ball, with Moustapha Fall consistently adding score for the 'red & whites' during the remaining four minutes (60-64). In the last quarter, Armani got ahead at 33' (66-65), following four off-target shots by Olympiacos. An assist by Walkup to Peters and a huge three by Vildoza at the buzzer (66-70, 35'), put our team in the driver's seat. The game remained open-end up to the last minute, but Alec Peters and seven points of his own, gave Olympiacos the 78-84 advantage by 39'. With 1:28'' still on the clock, the hosts found five quick points (83-84), but thanks to an excellent last defensive play, that led Armani to turn the ball over, Olympiacos got the win in Milan and improved his record to 12-6.

The quarters: 19-19, 40-41, 60-64, 83-84.