Georgios Printezis leads Olympiacos to convincing home win

Olympiacos Piraeus improved its playoffs options in Top 16 Group F by downing Zalgiris Kaunas 74-59 at home on Friday. Olympiacos improved to 5-6 while Zalgiris dropped to 2-9 and is mathematically out of chances to make the playoffs. Georgios Printezis led the winners with 17 points. Kostas Papanikolaou added 11 while Othello Hunter pulled down 11 rebounds for Olympiacos. Ian Vougioukas had 14 points for Zalgiris while Paulius Jankunas added 12. Printezis and Vassilis Spanoulis shined early to give Olympiacos a 14-8 lead but a 0-7 run that Brock Motum capped with a reverse layup gave Zalgiris a 14-15 lead after 10 minutes. Daniel Hackett rescued the Reds early in the second quarter and got plenty of help from Papanikolaou and Printezis to give Olympiacos a 39-30 lead at halftime. Back-to-back three-pointers by Ioannis Papapetrou and Printezis broke the game open, 53-35, midway through the third quarter. Olympiacos kept a 58-41 lead after 30 minutes on a buzzer-beating layup by Dimitrios Agravanis and kept a safe margin throughout the fourth quarter to seal a well-deserved win all before the final buzzer.

3:07 PM