2016-17Regular SeasonRound 17
FC Barcelona Lassa 67
Olympiacos Piraeus 69
January 12, 2017 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 PALAU BLAUGRANA
Vangelis Mantzaris - Olympiacos Piraeus - EB16

Mantzaris’s late free throws lift Olympiacos in Barcelona

In a thriller that went down to the wire, Olympiacos Piraeus grabbed its third straight win by downing FC Barcelona Lassa 67-69 at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday. Despite playing without star guard Vassilis Spanoulis, Olympiacos improved to 12-5 to rank second in the standings, while Barcelona dropped to 7-10. Georgios Printezis led the winners with 16 points and 9 rebounds and Matt Lojeski added 11, but it was Vangelis Mantzaris who became Olympiacos's hero with the game-winning free throws with 7.4 seconds left. Petteri Koponen led Barcelona with 16 points, Tyrese Rice added 16 and Ante Tomic had 12 for the hosts. Olympiacos limited Barcelona to 18-of-47 two-point shooting (38.3%) and only committed 9 turnovers in two of the keys to this exciting game.

Justin Doellman, Rice and Juan Carlos Navarro each struck from beyond the arc in the opening three minutes to give Barcelona an early 9-7 lead. Rice kept pushing Barcelona with a floater and Tomic added a layup for a 13-7 score. Nikola Milutinov took over with a put-back layup and got help from Printezis and Erick Green to keep Olympiacos within 15-13. Victor Claver hit free throws and Koponen added a triple, but Green answered with an acrobatic shot from downtown at the first-quarter buzzer to make it 20-17. Green hit another three-pointer early in the second, but consecutive layups by Sasha Vezenkov and Koponen kept Barcelona ahead, 24-22. Dominic Waters sank a mid-range jumper and a corner triple by Lojeski gave Olympiacos the lead, 26-27. Tomic hit back-to-back jump hooks - one with each hand - and Koponen hit a three-pointer in transition to put Barcelona ahead 33-29 at halftime.

Kostas Papanikolaou nailed a triple soon after the break and Lojeski added a jumper to put Olympiacos on top, 33-34. Printezis scored three times around the basket and Papanikolaou buried another three-pointer for a 39-44 Olympiacos edge. Rice hit a floater and fed Joey Dorsey for an alley-oop slam, but Printezis and Papanikolaou kept the guests ahead. Koponen stepped up for Barcelona and a buzzer-beating slam by Dorsey brought the hosts within 54-56 after 30 minutes. Dorsey and Alex Renfroe fueled a 6-0 run that put Barcelona up 60-56 early in the fourth quarter. Tomic scored down low and a layup by Rice caused Olympiacos to call timeout at 64-58 with more than four minutes left. Vangelis Mantzaris nailed a triple, Printezis added free throws and a dunk by Milutinov gave Olympiacos a 64-65 lead in the next-to-last minute. Lojeski buried a fade-away jumper that Koponen matched with a three-pointer that tied it at 67-67 with 26.7 seconds left. Mantzaris drew a foul with 7.4 seconds to go and calmly made both attempts for a 67-69 score. Rice missed an off-balance driving shot at the buzzer.

Thursday, January 12, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; PETEK, SASO
Attendance: 5173
By Quarter1234
FC Barcelona Lassa20132113
Olympiacos Piraeus17122713
End of Quarter1234
FC Barcelona Lassa20335467
Olympiacos Piraeus17295669
FC Barcelona Lassa
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 RICE, TYRESE 30:12 15 5/10 1/6 2/3   2 2 5 1 1 1 1 2 3 12
5 DOELLMAN, JUSTIN 12:32 5 1/2 1/1   1 2 3 2         3 1 7
6 DORSEY, JOEY 13:54 7 3/7   1/2 4 4 8 1   1     3 1 8
10 CLAVER, VICTOR 20:19 4 1/1 0/1 2/2 1 3 4 1   1       1 8
11 NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS 14:25 3 0/2 1/3     1 1 2 1 2     2 5 4
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 18:33 2 1/1 0/1     1 1 1         3 1 1
16 PENO, STEFAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 ERIKSSON, MARCUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
24 OLESON, BRAD 24:36   0/4     1 1 2   1 1 1 1 2   -4
25 KOPONEN, PETTERI 22:56 16 1/5 4/5 2/2 1 2 3 2 1 1   1 2 1 14
32 RENFROE, ALEX 16:46 3 1/3 0/1 1/1   2 2     1     1 1 1
44 TOMIC, ANTE 25:47 12 5/12   2/2 2 7 9     3 1 2 4 4 10
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 67 18/47 7/18 10/12 11 27 38 14 4 11 3 5 22 18 64
        38.3% 38.9% 83.3%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
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 Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 GREEN, ERICK 22:36 8 1/6 2/4     2 2 1   2   2 1 1  
2 BIRCH, KHEM 9:55 2 1/2   0/2 1   1   1         2 3
4 YOUNG, PATRIC 10:36 1 0/1   1/2 1 3 4             3 6
6 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 13:27 2 1/2 0/2   1 1 2       1     1 3
9 WATERS, DOMINIC 12:09 8 3/4   2/2   1 1 2   1     4 1 6
10 AGRAVANIS, DIMITRIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 MILUTINOV, NIKOLA 19:08 6 3/3     1 3 4   1 2 2   4 2 9
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 26:40 16 5/10 1/5 3/5 4 5 9 2 1 2 1   1 5 20
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 28:04 8 1/3 2/3     8 8   3 2 1 1 3 1 12
17 MANTZARIS, VANGELIS 27:13 6 0/1 1/3 3/4   2 2 2         3 3 6
24 LOJESKI, MATT 30:10 11 3/8 1/3 2/2 1 2 3 4         1 3 13
27 ATHINAIOU, IOANNIS 0:02 1     1/2                 1   -1
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 69 18/40 7/20 12/19 10 27 37 11 6 9 5 3 18 22 78
        45% 35% 63.2%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS

Head Coaches

BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
FC Barcelona Lassa
"It was a very tough game. One rebound, one mistake created the final result, but we had the chance to finish the game earlier, when we were up by 6 points. We made offensive fouls, bad decisions and Olympiacos is a very experienced teams. They made big shots, one by Mantzaris was a very important one. I think that we tried a lot on defense, but we had a low two-point shooting percentage and when we score 67 points in Palau, it is very difficult to win. We needed something more and didn't have it, and are now looking forward to the next game. I can say that every game is a different story and every opponent plays a different kind of basketball, so we have to adjust on this. You have to play your kind of basketball. I can say right now that it looks like we are not such a tough team for this level. We should have won today and finished the game earlier, but made many bad decisions during the game - offensive fouls in the low post and even in the last offense, we didn't shoot with the chance to win the game. We are making mistakes and this is why we are losing games like this. Every game is a different story, though. We had to adjust to Olympiacos's basketball, to the foul limit. We missed four or five layups under the basket and sometimes you need some luck, which we didn't have tonight. We must prepare the next game and fight until the end. We still have almost one round to play in the EuroLeague and are not going to quit. We need to be consistent from game to game and be tougher, learn from this game."
SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"This is very good win for our team, because it is always very difficult to play in this court against Barcelona, a very good team. This is why this win is of a big value. I think that we deserved to win, because we kept Barcelona to a low score. They scored 67 points and their home average is 79. When you keep a team like this below that average, you have chances to win the game and this is what happened. Of course, it was close, all the time - there were no big leads for any team. Barcelona had chances to win, of course, but we were focused in the end and the game went down to small details, and most of them went to our side. Congratulations to my players. They fought hard and played close to our game plan scheduled before the game. In a very big percentage, my players executed on the court what we planned before the game. We have to continue humble, with a low profile because it is a tough EuroLeague and there is a long way to go until the end. We must continue to work hard and be ready for the next game. I want to wish Barcelona good luck and thank our fans for their support tonight, up there where they were seating. They gave us big courage to fight on the court, so thanks again to our fans."

Players

TOMIC, ANTE
FC Barcelona Lassa
"We had options during the game to enter the final two minutes being quieter, but in the end, the game could have gone either way. We could have been a little but luckier, but we weren't. Olympiacos plays very physical on defense and has big players, but we expected this kind of game. We have to carry on and win enough games to make it to the playoffs. It is a long EuroLeague regular season, but we have to start winning right away; it is not that long anymore. We have to play much better, especially on the road."
KOPONEN, PETTERI
FC Barcelona Lassa
"Olympiacos's defense was the key, as always against them. They are not giving anything easy and we couldn't find open shots. We couldn't score the ball and they did a good job. It is our home court. We should protect it better and try to play more. We had some good moments in the game, but overall we have to do a better job and try to improve, especially in the EuroLeague, where every game is very tough. We need to win not only at home, but also on the road, because we have not been good on the road this season. It is going to be the key from now on."
LOJESKI, MATT
Olympiacos Piraeus
"We were losing by 6 points, I think, with three or four minutes left and for sure, it was defense that kept us in the game. We made some clutch shots and 2 free throws in the end to win. For sure, defense won the game for us. We would have liked to have Vassilis Spanoulis in the team, but he is only one guy. We have to step up; this is a big club and we have big expectations. We have to expect games without him."
PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"We knew that to get a win here, against a team like Barcelona on the road, we had to be concentrated all 40 minutes, not just the last three minutes. We did a great job, played good defense and managed to get another win. It is too early yet and we are going game by game. This is our plan, our goal. There is a long way to go, so we will celebrate this good victory today and from now on, rest, prepare and discuss the next game."