Unicaja too much for Olympiacos, grabs first win

U18 Unicaja Malaga picked up its first win in the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia by knocking off U18 Olympiacos Piraeus 75-88. Yannick Nzosa tallied 24 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks to lead Unicaja, which improved to 1-1 in Group A. Jeffrey Godspower added 13 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists, Adrian Ramirez scored 12 points, Pablo Tamba had 10 points and Pablo Sanchez chipped in 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in the win. Unicaja won the rebound battle 58-36, including 24 offensive rebounds, to offset 17 turnovers. Alexandros Nikolaidis tallied 26 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals, Iosif Koloveros scored 13 points, Sotirios Oikonomopoulos and Andreas Perris both contributed 12 points and Panagiotis Tsamis added 10 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks for Olympiacos, which dropped to 0-2.

Koloveros scored the first four points of the game and a Nikolaidis three-pointer made it 7-4 for Olympiacos. But Unicaja went on a 0-18 run over the next 6 minutes with Godspower and Nzosa combining for 13 points and a 7-22 lead. And the advantage was 9-25 after 10 minutes. Andreas Perris was the only weapon Olympiacos could muster early in the second quarter with two three-pointers and three free throws to keep the deficit at 13 points - 18-31. But Jose Garcia and Ramirez both drained triples in an 0-10 surge to pull Valencia ahead 18-41. And the lead was 24-49 at intermission. Olympiacos opened the second half with an 11-0 run as Nikolaidis scored six points to bring the team within 35-49. Javier Rodriguez and Ramirez responded with three-pointers to push the lead back to 20 points. Olympiacos had more fight in it and scored the next nine points to make it 44-55 only to see two more Ramirez three-balls for a 44-61 Unicaja lead, which was 49-63 after 30 minutes. Nikolaidis’ three-ball started the fourth quarter and cut it to 52-63 but Tamba answered with the next five points. Koloveros trimmed it down to 59-70 but again Unicaja had an answer with an 3-8 spurt for a 62-78 cushion. Olympiacos reeled off the next seven points to make it a single digit game 69-78 with 2 minutes left. Sanchez converted a layup and Olympiacos would not get any closer the rest of the way.