Olympiacos uses long ball for first win

U18 Olympiacos Piraeus collected its first win at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Valencia by easing past U18 Cibona Zagreb 73-107. Iosif Koloveros scored 27 points with 6 three-pointers as one of four Olympiacos players with at least 19 points and three who had a PIR of 30 or more. Sotirios Oikonomopoulos tallied 21 points, Panagiotis Tsamis picked up 19 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks, and Alexandros Nikolaidis finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 steals for Olympiacos. The Greek side, which finished Group A play with a 1-2 record, shot 18-of-40 from long range for 45.0 percent and won the rebound battle 42-32 while forcing 21 Cibona turnovers. Cibona also had a 1-2 record after Luksa Buljevic scored 20 points and Roko Prkacin had 9 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Koloveros and Efthymios Moschopoulos both hit three-pointers in a 0-10 run for a 2-10 Olympiacos lead. A Hrvoje Majcunic triple evened the game at 10-10 before treys from Koloveros and Oikonomopoulos had the Greek side up 12-20. Moschopoulos and Oikonomopoulos added another long ball for a 20-32 lead after 10 minutes. After some back and forth in the second quarter, Oikonomopoulos and Koloveros both buried two three-balls in a 2-15 surge as Olympiacos started to pull away 29-51. Majcunic hit a three-pointer and Zvonimir Ivisic converted a three-point play for Cibona but the gap was 40-59 at intermission. Olympiacos had a strong 3-8 start to the second half to move ahead 43-67 and Koloveros and Oikonomopoulos were on target from the outside in a 2-12 spurt for a 55-86 advantage, which was 57-86 after 30 minutes. Nikolaidis opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to start a 1-7 spurt for a 58-93 cushion. Cibona managed the next four points but it was never able to put together consecutive defensive stops to pull closer.