2005-06Regular SeasonRound 10
January 11, 2006 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 ABDI IPEKCI ARENA
Efes Pilsen returned to its strong point, relentless defense, to down visiting Olympiacos 77-69 and take back a piece of first place in Group B on Wednesday. Efes held high-scoring Olympiacos to just 27 points in the second half to come back from short second-half deficits to win. Efes raised its record to 7-3, equalling Lietuvos Rytas after its home loss to Winterthur FCB. Olympiacos fell to sixth place at 4-6. Kaya Peker returned to form for the winners with 21 points on 7 for 13 shooting. He ws followed by Antonio Granger, who scored key fourth-quarter baskets on the way to 14 points, while Ender Arslan and Henry Domercant had 13 each. Nikos Hatzis scored 16 points for Olympiacos, Panagiotis Vasilopoulos and Sofoklis Schortsanitis 10 each. Foul trouble hurt the Reds as big men Schortsianitis, Andrija Zizic and Nikos Barlos were all on the floor for less than 18 minutes.

A week after hitting 17 of 17 free throws for a new Euroleague record, Zizic opened the scoring going 2 for 2 from the foul line. He also opened a duel with Peker in which each scored most of his team's points in the first 4 minutes, after which Efes led 10-9. Peker had 5 by then and Zizic 6, while Antonio Granger had fired in a first triple for the hosts, followed by Nikos Barlos landing one for Olympiacos. Efes, however, seemed better on defense and used that to push ahead. Ender Arslan's 6 free throw points in the next couple minutes put Efes ahead 16-9. Soon, Domercant was scoring 4 consecutive points to mke it 20-11. Sofoklis Shortsianidis kept Olympiacos close with 5 points of his own, but Marko Popovic's triple and layup off the bench in the final minute gave Efes a solid 26-14 edge after 10 minutes.

Olimpiacos got back in the game with a stunning 0-10 blast to start the second quarter. Panagiotis Vasilopoulos sparked it with a triple. Renadlas Seibutis drove for the next basket. Hatzis copied him and then drilled a triple of his own. In under 2 minutes, the Reds were as close as 26-24 and it was whole new game. Granger and Peker, with 7 more points, kept Efes ahead by as many as 5 points, 33-28, but Hatzis was just warming up. His second triple made it 33-31, while another by Seibutis cut the difference to a single point, 35-34. Efes was hanging in to Peker's points until Olympiacos newcomer Matthew Frieje made one jump shot and Hatzis another to put the visitors ahead breifly, 39-40, in the next-to-last minute. A flurry of free throws finished with Seibutis making a pair to tie it up, 42-42, at the half.

Both defenses dominated the third quarter as getting any points to fall proved tough. The task for Olympiacos was complicated by foul trouble, four whistles each by minute 25 for big men Schortsianitis, Zizic and Barlos, many of them drawn by Peker. Domercant's 5 points plus free throws from Peker gave Efes a 52-47 lead, but Hatzis downed 4 foul shots of his own in a 1-6 run that allowed Olympiacos to tie 53-53. Efes ran into its own fouls troubles as Cenk Akyol and Nikola Prkacin left with their fourth each . And when Schortsanitis came back and made 2 at the line, the Reds had gone ahead again, 53-55. Hatzis then put the finish touch on the comeback by drilling a three-pointer in the final minute to leave the Reds in the lead, 55-58 after three quarters.

After Kerem Gonlum opened the final quarter with a basket for Efes, Freije, Christos Harissis and Schortsianitis all got through the defense for inside baskets to put Olympiacos in charge, 57-64. But the Reds would find it awful difficult to score again. Efes shut down the visitors while responding with a game-tying 7-0 burst capped by Arslan's triple to make it 64-64. Edney would put Olympiacos on top again with a drive, but Granger responded with two of his own, the second a reverse that got Efes back in front, 68-67 with 4 minutes left. Olympiacos was not done, as Vasilopoulos scored next, off a great assist by Schortsianitis, but a minute later, Granger answered that with a strike from downtown for a 71-69 Efes advantage. Olympicos would not score again, as Peker and Domercant went to the line over the last 2 minutes to preserve the victory that put Efes back at the top of Group B.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Gokhan Ture, Istanbul
No results found.
Referees: BACHAR, SHMUEL; SUTULOVIC, ZORAN; PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; KAMNIKAR, ALES
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Efes Pilsen26161322
Olympiacos14281611
End of Quarter1234
Efes Pilsen26425577
Olympiacos14425869
Efes Pilsen
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ARSLAN, ENDER 29:30 13   2/4 7/10   3 3 4 1 4     2 7 17
6 ERMIS, BARIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 PRKACIN, NIKOLA 30:15 3 1/1   1/2   5 5 6 1 4     4 2 8
10 ABI, MUSTAFA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 GONLUM, KEREM 18:30 5 1/3   3/6 1 3 4           1 3 6
14 PEKER, KAYA 31:15 21 7/13   7/9 1 2 3 2 4 3 1   4 9 25
21 GRANGER, ANTONIO 33:30 14 4/4 2/3   1 2 3   2 3 1   2 3 17
24 POPOVIC, MARKO 10:30 7 1/2 1/2 2/2   1 1     1     2 1 4
41 AKYOL, CENK 8:45 1   0/1 1/2                 4 2 -3
42 DEMIR, MUTLU DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
44 DOMERCANT, HENRY 37:45 13 2/5 1/4 6/8   4 4 3 2 2 1 1 2 5 15
55 YILMAZ, ALPER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1   1     1          
Totals 200:00 77 16/28 6/14 27/39 4 20 24 15 10 18 3 1 21 32 89
        57.1% 42.9% 69.2%
Head coach: MAHMUTI, OKTAY
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Olympiacos
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 EDNEY, TYUS 23:15 4 2/6 0/1   2   2 4   1     2 2 4
5 PAPAMAKARIOS, MANOLIS 19:45   0/2 0/3         2 1 1   1 5   -9
8 SEIBUTIS, RENALDAS 20:15 9 2/4 1/2 2/2 2 1 3 2 1 3     2 1 8
9 CHATZIS, NIKOLAOS 25:15 16 3/5 2/5 4/4 1 2 3 2 1     1 3 3 16
12 BARLOS, NIKOS 9:30 3 0/1 1/2   1 1 2 1 3 2     4 4 5
13 VASILOPOULOS, PANAGIOTIS 24:30 10 2/4 2/4     4 4 3 1 1 1   4 1 11
20 ZIZIC, ANDRIJA 15:15 8 2/4   4/4 1 2 3   1 2     4 4 8
21 SCHORTSANITIS, SOFOKLIS 18:00 10 3/3   4/6 1 4 5 1 1 2     4 6 15
24 LEWIS, QUINCY 14:45   0/1       1 1   2 1   1 2   -2
32 HARISSIS, CHRISTOS 16:45 5 1/1 1/3     2 2 1   2     2   2
35 FREIJE, MATT 12:45 4 2/5 0/3             1         -3
45 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team                                
Totals 200:00 69 17/36 7/23 14/16 8 17 25 16 11 16 1 3 32 21 55
        47.2% 30.4% 87.5%
Head coach: KAZLAUSKAS, JONAS
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

MAHMUTI, OKTAY
Efes Pilsen
"We had a good start to the game but we lost concentration in the second quarter and you cannot handle that in a tough competition like the Euroleague. Then we fought to control the rhythm of the game in the remaining minutes. We tried hard and managed to do it just in the remaining eight-and-a-half minutes. We did it with our excellent defense and got back in the game after we were down by 7 points. Of course, these kind of games are always hard and we were expecting that. That's the way it is. This is a real good win for us in a very hard group. But the other important thing is that we shouldn't have these ups and downs in this kind of critical match: 18 turnovers is too much for us."
KAZLAUSKAS, JONAS
Olympiacos
"I think that we started the game very bad... We gave them 12 points of advantage just in the first quarter and it's very difficult at a Euroleague level to come back from that difference. It was good that we fought back and equalled the game in the second quarter. Two things were crucial. The first when Quincy Lewis stole the ball and he went to the basket 2 minutes before the end and Granger stopped him and made a three-point shot. And the second thing is that two times we lost two straight rebounds at the end, so Vasilopoulos and Tyus Edney weren't able to have the ball. The starting five was not good enough tonight. The guys who came from the bench were better, and this was the problem. Three away losses, two in the Euroleague and one against Aris in the Greek League, is not good. We must work on this."

Players

PEKER, KAYA
Efes Pilsen
"Tonight there was no balance in our game. We had a perfect start and played the way we can. But we started the second quarter like we had won the game just in one quarter. It was a big mistake for us and we tried very hard to turn the game back to our side. Olympiacos also did everything to win the game and that made the game exciting for fans, but not for us. Finally, we saw the danger coming when we went seven points down in the last quarter. Ender and Granger did a really great job in the last few minutes. We are happy to win this game because we were not good enough during the whole game. I wish Olympiacos good luck in the next games."
ZIZIC, ANDRIJA
Olympiacos
"I said before the game that if we wanted to get an away win, we must concentrate very well in the last minutes. But again we made the same mistake. We stopped in the last minutes once again. I can't find the reason for that. I feel very sorry about that, butwe have to keep on fighting. We still have some chances to qualify for the next round. We got involved in early foul trouble and this was the reason for our weak performance as starters. But we will fight to go to the Top 16 until the end."
No results found.