2001-02Regular SeasonRound 12
January 30, 2002 CET: 00:00
Local time: 00:00 LA COUPULE
Olympiakos of Greece has marked the debut of new head coach Lefteris Subotic with a resounding 56-76 Group A road win at Charleroi on Wednesday in that leaves no doubt at all about the Reds being in the Top 16. Olympiakos was already qualified but its last victory had been protested by Unicaja of Spain, who was expected to appeal in the matter. Now, nothing can keep Olympiakos from advancing, and at 9-3 the Reds will now join a tie for second place after Maccabi and Benetton settle their first-place tie on Thursday. Known better for its offense and league-leading scorer Alphonso Ford, it was the Olympiakos defense which shone on Wednesday, holding Charleroi to just 33 points through the first three quarters. Charleroi, playing without key contributors Jim Potter, Darren Engellant and Thomas Van de Vondel, stays in last place at 2-10. Ronald Ellis of Charleroi led all scorers with 20 points and Rober Huggins added 11 for the losers. Ford and Stephane Risacher had 13 each to pace Olympiakos.

Fans in Charleroi knew what to expect after two minutes and the scoreboard was still blocked at 0-0: a defensive struggle. David Desy finally broke the impasse, then Huggins made it 4-0 as Olympiakos failed its first six shots. Olympiakos had trouble facing Charleroi's zone defense, and after six minutes and three turnovers, Subotic called a timeout. But it didn't change anything. Quicker in its fast breaks, Charleroi was above all very tough on defense and ahead 10-6 after 9 minutes. Ford was tempted to take the game in his hands but he was unlucky (2 on 7). On the contrary, the entry of veteran guard Jacques Stas, still a little ill, for Desy, excellent till then, launched the Belgians to 12-6, before Ford made it 12-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Olympiakos's difficulties to score went on, but Charleroi had now difficulty keeping its rebounds and playing inside. In three minutes, Olympiakos foreced 4 turnsover and you could feel the game was turning but the time it was tied 14-14. Charleroi saw Ellis and Desy put it back ahead, 18-14, but continued to lose possessions and miss free throws itself. So it became more and more clear that Olympiakos, dominating physically and by consequence getting more rebounds, was back to stay. A 3-12 run for the visitors sealed a 21-26 before Charleroi was able to cut the deficit to 25-28 at the half. Ellis was up to 10 points for Charleroi by then.

The sensation that Olympiakos had taken the game in its hands was confirmed as the Reds came back from the lockerroom with the clear intention of accelerating. Combined with some distraction and mistakes on the part of Charleroi, the visitors were sure this time to translate their domination on the boards into a double-digit lead, 27-41. In only five minutes, Charleroi had collapsed, and a game that was so open until then suddenly seemed fated with Olympiakos up 33-56 after 30 minutes.

In these conditions, the fourth quarter was undramatic, even if Charleroi tried till the end to keep the margin under 20 points. Olympiakos had proved it could manage the game as it wanted and push on the accelerator when necessary.
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Stephane Druart, Charleroi
No results found.
Referees: DORIZON, PASCAL; AMOROS, XAVIER; JANAC, LADISLAV
Attendance: 3500
By Quarter1234
Spirou Basket1213823
Olympiacos8202820
End of Quarter1234
Spirou Basket12253356
Olympiacos8285676
Spirou Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 ELLIS, RONALD 35:19 20 6/6 2/4 2/2 3 6 9 4 2 1     1 3 34
5 ROWE, LOUIS 30:01 4 0/3 0/2 4/6   3 3 2   7     5 4 -6
6 DESY, DAVID 23:19 4 2/2 0/4         1         5 1 -3
7 JEROME, JOHN 25:10 5 1/6 0/2 3/4 2 4 6 1 2 3     4 2 1
9 TISON, STEPHEN 2:43 2     2/2                   1 3
10 DEFOSSE, JULIEN 12:27   0/1 0/1   1 1 2     1         -1
11 HUGGINS, ROGER 34:39 11 4/8 0/1 3/7 1 5 6 1 3 3 2   4 9 16
12 VUJIC, IVAN 20:10 4 2/6   0/3 1 2 3     1     1 4 2
13 STAS, JACQUES 16:12 6 2/4 0/3 2/3   1 1 3   2     3 3 2
Team                                
Totals 200:00 56 17/36 2/17 16/27 8 22 30 12 7 18 2 0 23 27 48
        47.2% 11.8% 59.3%
Head coach: BOZZI, GIOVANNI
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 BOUNTOURIS, NIKOLAOS 10:02     0/2                     1 -1
5 DORKOFIKIS, PERIKLIS 1:28                   2         -2
6 PAPALOUKAS, THEODOROS 26:42 12 4/10 0/1 4/10   2 2 5 4 1     3 7 13
7 PAPANIKOLAOU, DIMITRIOS 20:25 11 5/5   1/3 2 2 4 3   1     4 4 15
8 SAVRASENKO, ALEKSEY 12:58 4 2/2     3 3 6 1     1   4 1 9
9 RISACHER, STEPHANE 24:10 13 5/8 1/3   2 2 4           2 1 11
10 FORD, ALPHONSO 33:41 13 4/13 0/3 5/6 1 4 5 1 3 1 1   3 3 9
11 TOMIC, MILAN 21:30 4 0/1 1/3 1/2   2 2 1 3       3 2 5
12 NIKAGBATSE, MISAN 1:03 3   1/1                       3
13 FEMERLING, PATRICK 24:03 8 3/6   2/2 5 5 10 1   1 1   1 2 17
14 FORREST, JAMES 12:52   0/3       1 1     2     2   -6
15 DE MIGUEL, IGNACIO 11:06 8 4/8     3 1 4 1         5 2 6
Team                                
Totals 200:00 76 27/56 3/13 13/23 16 22 38 13 10 8 3 0 27 23 79
        48.2% 23.1% 56.5%
Head coach: SUBOTIC , SLOBODAN
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

BOZZI, GIOVANNI
Spirou Basket
"It is true that without our injured players or with every one at his top, we could do better. But this is no excuse. Olympiakos is simply too strong for us. They play too physically. So the only means to face them is to play quicker but we don't have the players to do that. We miss a very quick playmaker and a big guy. That's it."

Players

ELLIS, RONALD
Spirou Basket
"I am disappointed about the way we lost. We played good defense till halftime and scored when we were open. But we came back relaxed. I don't know why but we absolutely have to correct that before going to Efes next week. For myself, I tried to do my best, but of course it isn't enough. Even if I don't consider Olympiakos as tough as Maccabi for example, whose inside players are quicker."
RISACHER, STEPHANE
Olympiacos
"We didn't underestimate Charleroi at all. We simply had difficulties getting started. But it is quite normal. We only worked one week with our new coach and we have to find new ways. But we worked hard and we are satisfied in our game. We were searching for a way to put them in trouble. It took time but when we succeeded in, we just took off."
No results found.