A defeat at the end
Olympiacos was defeated at the premiere of the “Alexander Gomelsky Cup” to Lokomotiv Kuban 82-79.
The “reds” despite leading even by 12 points half of third period, got very nervous following the two technical fouls called by the refs and made many mistakes and bad choices. The Russians came back to the game and led by five just before the end but the players of Giorgos Bartzokas made their come back.
Olympiacos led 79-78 31’’ before the end, but it was finally Baron that gave the victory to Lokomotiv with four points of his own (one basket and two free throws following a turnover by the ‘reds’).
The quarters: 16-20, 34-35, 65-58, 79-82
Οlympiacos (Bartzokas): Hines 11, Spanoulis 18(3), Perperoglou 10, Dorsey 1, Sloukas 2, Mavroeidis 2, Gecevicius 2, Printezis 17(2), Papanikolaou 10(2), Mantzaris 3(1), Katsivelis 3(1).
Lokomotiv Kuban (Pashutin): Grigoryev 10(2), Shabalkin 6, Likhodey 3, Jasaitis 5, Baron 21(3), Maric 10, Traore 10, Calathes 17(2)
GIORGOS BARTZOKAS: It’s important for us that we take part in this tournament in the memory of a great basketball personality. I would like to congratulate Lokomotiv and wish them good luck for the upcoming season. The reference point for Olympiacos is defense and that’s where we have to always start. We didn’t do that tonight. We were leading by 12 but Lokomotiv’s pressure led us to many mistakes. We could have won the game at the end, but we added yet another mistake to our strategy.
ΚYLE HINES: I think this game is going to help us in the future, to work on our mistakes. We underestimated Lokomotiv and we certainly have to improve defensively because that’s our greatest weapon and tonight it has been our worst element. It’s a pre-season game, but this cannot and should not happen when official games begin.
ΕVGENY PASHUTIN: I would like to congratulate my team on the victory. It has been a great honor for us to play in this tournament with these teams and thus pay tribute to the great Alexander Gomelsky. It was a big test for us to play against the best team in Europe. I think this game has been a good test for our youthful team. Tonight we saw that we are on the right path and it’s important that we keep improving. I would like to wish good luck to Olympiacos and may they reach the Final Four once again.
NICK CALATHES: It’s good for us to play against the best team in Europe and beat them. This victory gives us a lot of confidence. It’s not an important victory ranking wise, but it’s very important for our team and its future.