2020-21Regular SeasonRound 10
January 19, 2021 CET: 20:45
Local time: 20:45 ASTROBALLE

Sloukas leads Reds to victory in France

In a postponed game from Round 10 that went to overtime, Olympiacos Pireaus grabbed its seventh road victory in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season by downing LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 93-101 at the Astroballe on Tuesday. Olympiacos improved to 11-9, while ASVEL dropped to 6-14. Kostas Sloukas forced overtime with a huge three-pointer and kept pacing Olympiacos in the extra period to seal the outcome. Sloukas and Shaquielle McKissic led the winners with 23 points apiece. Hassan Martin added 15, Aaron Harrison had 12 and Georgios Printezis 11 for Olympiacos. Norris Cole paced ASVEL with 21 points, David Lighty added 17, William Howard 18, Kevarrius Hayes 13 and Ismael Bako 10.

Lighty got ASVEL going with a three-pointer and Bako followed a dunk with a jumper for a 7-4 lead. Octavius Ellis dunked twice in a 0-7 run that put Olympiacos in charge, 7-11. Bako followed a jumper with a two-handed slam, but Sloukas and Martin kept the guests ahead, 11-17. Antoine Diot sank a baseline jumper before Printezis and Martin fueled a 0-6 run that made it a double-digit game, 13-23. Howard dunked to fix the score at 15-23 after 10 minutes. Howard took over with a wild four-point play early in the second quarter. Charles Kahudi drew ASVEL within 21-23. Martin hit a jumper, Kahudi and McKissic traded triples and Matthew Strazel hit a floater to make it 26-28. Bako and Guerschon Yabusele each dunked and Lighty added a layup, but Charles Jenkins and McKissic kept Olympiacos ahead, 32-33. Cole buried a three-pointer but Olympiacos kept finding easy points in the paint, as Printezis, Martin and Ellis gave the Reds a 37-44 margin at halftime.

Martin scored in the low post to cap a 0-9 run. Cole stepped up with a couple of three-point plays and fed Hayes for an alley-oop slam, but Harrison and Jenkins kept Olympiacos ahead, 45-51. Sloukas bettered Lighty's layup with a triple, but Cole and Hayes brought ASVEL within 55-56. Vassilis Spanoulis hit a triple and McKissic took over with a huge driving layup. Diot and Hayes got ASVEL within 61-63 after 30 minutes. Howard bettered Harrison's jumper with a three-pointer and added a driving basket to make it 66-65. McKissic answered with a layup-plus-foul, but Hayes singlehandedly restored a 71-68 ASVEL lead with 7 minutes left. Lighty followed a three-pointer with a driving layup, but McKissic and Martin gave the Reds hope at 79-76. Sloukas took over with a three-point play, which Martin followed with a put-back basket for a 79-81 Olympiacos lead with 2 minutes to go. Howard sank a three-pointer, Sloukas and Hayes traded free throws, and the guests fouled Cole with 9.9 seconds remaining. He made both attempts, but Sloukas buried a triple with 0.8 seconds left that sent the game to overtime, 86-86.

Light split foul shots early in overtime and Cole gave ASVEL an 89-86 lead. Sloukas kept pacing Olympiacos and Harrison gave his team an 89-90 lead. Cole scored around the basket, but McKissic and Sloukas answered with consecutive driving layups for a 91-94 score with 1:20 left. Free throws by Harrison and Sloukas sealed the outcome, 91-97, allowing Olympiacos to return home with a win.

Pivotal performer

Kostas Sloukas's late heroics allowed Olympiacos to win the game. He made the three-pointer that sent it to overtime and then scored 6 more points in the extra period. He finished the game with 23 points on 4-of-8 two-point shooting, 2-of-2 on three-pointers and 9-of-9 on free throws plus 6 assists and 6 fouls drawn for a PIR of 27.

Game-changing moment

ASVEL led 79-73 midway through the fourth quarter but Shaquielle McKissic and Kostas Sloukas fueled an 0-8 run that Hassan Martin capped with a put-back layup for a 79-81 Olympiacos lead. Sloukas made the difference in crunch time, but Olympiacos would never have had a chance if it didn't get back in the game with that run.

Stellar stat

Olympiacos had 9 blocks in this game - a career-high 3 by Sasha Vezenkov, 2 each by Octavius Ellis and Georgios Printezis, and one each by Hassan Martin and Livio Jean-Charles. It matches the Reds' club record; Olympiacos previously had 9 blocks in a 57-62 road win against Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade on November 7, 2014. It is also the highest mark by any team in the 2020-21 EuroLeague.

Did you know?

It has been a long time since ASVEL beat the same team twice in a EuroLeague season. ASVEL beat Olympiacos twice in the 2002-03 campaign, both at home - 85-74 on January 30, 2003, with 20 points from Harold Mrazek and 89-79 on April 17, 2003, with 17 points each from Andre Owens and Stevin Smith. Its next opportunity comes against TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Round 22 next week.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action later on this week. ASVEL hosts Valencia Basket on Thursday, January 21. A day later, Olympiacos visits Zalgiris Kaunas.

Kostas Sloukas - Olympiacos Piraeus - EB20
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: BOLTAUZER, MATEJ; PEREZ, EMILIO; TRAWICKI, TOMASZ
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234Extra 1
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne152224257
Olympiacos Piraeus2321192315
End of Quarter1234Extra 1
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne1537618693
Olympiacos Piraeus23446386101
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 FREEMAN, ALLERIK 22:01 2 1/4 0/1         1 1     1 2   -3
5 KAHUDI, CHARLES 29:09 5 0/1 1/3 2/2 1 5 6 1 2 2   1 1 2 9
6 LACOMBE, PAUL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 DIOT, ANTOINE 11:24 4 1/1   2/2   1 1 1 1 2     4 1 2
9 LOMAZS, RIHARDS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13 HAYES, KEVARRIUS 25:49 13 4/8   5/7 3 5 8 1 1     2 4 6 17
21 BAKO, ISMAEL 18:24 10 5/8     2 2 4 1   1 1 2 4   6
23 LIGHTY, DAVID 30:23 18 3/6 2/3 6/8 2 5 7 2   4     4 6 19
25 HOWARD, WILLIAM 16:28 16 3/6 3/4 1/1   1 1 1 1     1 5 1 10
28 YABUSELE, GUERSCHON 21:07 2 1/1 0/3   2 3 5 1   1 1   4 3 4
30 COLE, NORRIS 32:37 21 5/11 1/7 8/8 1 1 2 6 2 1   2 3 5 18
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 17:38 2 1/1 0/2   1 1 2 2 1 1     1 1 4
Team           1   1     1          
Totals 225:00 93 24/47 7/23 24/28 13 24 37 17 9 13 2 9 32 25 86
        51.1% 30.4% 85.7%
Head coach: PARKER, TJ
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 NIKOLAIDIS, ALEXANDROS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 HARRISON, AARON 27:50 12 3/5 0/1 6/7   5 5 1 1 1     3 5 16
4 CHARALAMPOPOULOS, VASILIS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 13:53 3 0/1 1/1         1   3     1 1  
11 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 32:34 23 4/8 2/2 9/9   1 1 6   4     1 6 27
12 MARTIN, HASSAN 27:32 15 7/10   1/1 3 3 6   4   1   4 3 22
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 21:46   0/5     1 4 5 2     3 1 2   2
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 21:40 11 2/5 1/2 4/8   5 5 1 1 2 2 1 2 6 13
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 4:07   0/1                 1   2   -2
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 24:27 6 3/3 0/2   1 5 6 2         3   9
32 ELLIS, OCTAVIUS 17:28 8 4/4     1 2 3   1 1 2   3 1 11
77 MCKISSIC, SHAQUIELLE 33:43 23 5/7 1/3 10/13   2 2 3 1 2     4 10 26
Team           1   1               1
Totals 225:00 101 28/49 5/11 30/38 7 27 34 16 8 13 9 2 25 32 125
        57.1% 45.5% 78.9%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

PARKER, TJ
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"This is the story of our season. The story of our season. I think that in two-three games like that - it happened in Berlin the first time. We were in the game in the first half and everybody on our team made the effort in the second half, they fought. And when we take a timeout and we tell specific things to do, you have to do it. That's why I am so disappointed, even for us, for ASVEL, for the team, because the game was in our hands. The game was in our hands."
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"It was a very tough, very difficult game. We are feeling exhausted, even the coaches. First of all, I consider this game as one of the most difficult games of the season. The reasons: one, I have a lot of respect for ASVEL, for their roster, for the way they play. For us, it is difficult to match up. And also, it was a great response after the lost game on Friday for us to come here and play. Of course, we had Hassan Martin with us today, who helped us a lot, but we played as a team, had patience and even in the tough and difficult moment of the game, when we were down on the score, we found solutions to come back and equalize the score, finally, with this three-point shots from Sloukas. In the end, in overtime, we dominated with our defensive game, basically. We had 9 blocks in the whole game and I think, if I am not wrong, 3 were in the overtime, so we had great defensive stops in the end of the game to manage to win the game. So congratulations to my team. This is, right now, a turning point for all the teams. It is the second round, although this game was from the first round for us, so I consider that every game counts as double. Every game is a final and there a lot of good, strong teams in the EuroLeague, and nothing is easy."

Players

SLOUKAS, KOSTAS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"First of all, after our previous result against this team, we were very upset and disappointed because we made this month a really good job and threw one victory. I think, all game, we showed character. We lost a little bit the rhythm of the game in the third quarter with some silly turnovers, but the important thing is that we showed the heart of Olympiacos, came back and took this game. We just have to keep this victory and how we turned the game to us. I speak for me, I was really upset and disappointed like I said. We had to answer against this team, that is a good team and prepared the game really well. Now we have to see the next game against Zalgiris. For us, it is another big final."
MCKISSIC, SHAQUIELLE
Olympiacos Piraeus
"I guess it was just one of those nights, you know? We usually focus on team basketball, but when the team needs me to do other things, I like to do that as well. It was super important that we came out here and got this win. It is always tough to play back-to-back games, but we almost let this one slip. I think I owe Kostas Sloukas some dinner or something!"
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