Olympiacos trumped Lottomatica Roma 71-86

Olympiacos notched its first road victory of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague campaign by beating Lottomatica Roma 71-86 to improve to 4-1 in Group B. Ioannis Bourousis led the way for head coach Dusan Ivkovic’s Greek powerhouse with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Milos Teodosic added 15 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists and Vassilis Spanoulis scored 14 points – 12 of them in the first quarter. Loukas Mavrokefalides chipped in 12. After opening the season with back-to-back wins, head coach Matteo Boniciolli’s Lottomatica dropped its third consecutive game to fall to 2-3 in the group. Roma wasted a 17-point, 6-rebound effort by Andrea Crosariol, while Josh Heytvelt added 14 points. Olympiacos looks for another road victory next week when it faces Real Madrid. And Lottomatica hopes to snap its three-game losing streak at Brose Baskets.

Rasho Nesterovic opened the scoring for the guests with a hook shot, which Luigi Datome matched on an offensive rebound and put-back. And Darius Washington streaked past Spanoulis to give Roma a 4-2 lead. Spanoulis answered right back with two jumpers, a three-pointer and an assist on a pick-and-roll dunk by Nesterovic in an 2-11 surge for a 6-13 Olympiacos advantage, which resulted in a Roma timeout. Lottomatica worked hard to stop the Greeks with point guard Teodosic on the bench with Heytvelt knocking down a triple and a jumper from the right corner to trim the deficit to 13-15. Spanoulis came back down for a three-ball for the Reds to make it 13-18 – and give the Greek international 12 points in the first quarter. But Luca Vitali was not impressed with a triple of his own to trail 16-18. Olympiacos answered with a 2-6 run to finish off the period with Mavrokefalides nailing a baseline jumper at the buzzer for an 18-24 Olympiacos lead.

Both sides struggled in the early goings of the second quarter to score. Yotam Halperin’s driving lay-up started the period – also the Israeli’s first points of the Euroleague campaign – before Washington cut the gap to 21-26 with a three-pointer. The Greek giants began to open the game up a bit with Mavrokefalides hitting two foul shots and an inside basket to build an 11-point cushion, 21-32. Bourousis and Halperin knocked down back-to-back long balls as the Olympiacos advantage extended to 14 points, 25-39 midway through the second quarter. The Romans fought hard to stay within striking range with inside scores by Crosariol and Heytvelt bringing Lottomatica back to within 33-41. And Datome’s jumper had Roma down 35-43. The hosts however could not handle the reigning Euroleague MVP Teodosic, who assisted on baskets by Matt Nielsen and Nesterovic before nailing a triple from the right corner for a 38-51 cushion. And then after Crosariol hit a toug h basket, Teodosic raced down and fed Nielsen for a buzzer-beating lay-up and a 40-53 Olympiacos lead going into the break.

Bourousis started the second half by opening the Olympiacos lead to 15 points with an inside basket – 40-55. Crosariol came back down with a three-point play but Bourousis answered with his second three-pointer of the game and Mavrokefalides pushed the margin to 17 points at 43-60. The Romans gave their all to get back into the game with Charles Smith knocking down a three-ball and Crosariol coming up with a three-point play to make it 51-64. Lottomatica could not chip away any more of the lead despite Nihad Djedovic’s three-ball to leave Roma down 55-68 after three quarters.

Ali Traore opened the final quarter with a basket to bring the Italian club within 57-68. Roma had Teodosic guarded closely but he showed why he’s one of the biggest talents in Europe, hitting a tough three-pointer from the left wing to push the gap back to 57-71. A Marko Keselj breakaway dunk built the lead back to 16 points and Boniciolli called a timeout. But Keselj nailed a three-pointer for a 19-point lead 57-76 out of the timeout and Roma was beaten for good. Crosariol put back an offensive rebound and Smith got out for a break-away lay-up but Olympiacos would not let the host team closer than 14 points the rest of the way.