Olympiacos Piraeus led from start to finish, thrashing visiting Unics Kazan 88-59 at Peace and Friendship Stadium on Friday. Olympiacos improved to a 7-4 record, while Unics dropped to 3-8, tied for the last place in the standings. An Olympiacos win was never in doubt, as it controlled things from the get-go behind its defense. It’s the biggest win of the season for Olympiacos, and the second time this season that its defense allowed fewer than 60 points. Matt Lojeski had 15 points and 6 rebounds while Erick Green also scored 15 in victory. Kostas Papanikolaou had 12, Georgios Printezis 11, and Vassilis Spanoulis 10 in less than 17 minutes on the floor. For Unics, Keith Langford scored 13 of his 25 points in the final 6 minutes, and Latavious Williams scored 9 in a losing effort.
Olympiacos started building lead from the start behind its defense, while on offense Printezis hit a triple and a baseline floater that opened 13-2 advantage. Langford scored the first 7 points for the visitors, but Spanoulis and Printezis made close-range baskets that opened 19-7 lead. Lojeski and Williams traded three-point plays, but Langford needed only 9 minutes to be the first players in double figures, keeping Unics in range. The hosts lead 24-16 at the end of first, and Paul Stoll helped the visitors get within 4 points at the start of the second. But Olympiacos turned back to its defense, keeping Unics scoreless for almost 5 minutes and restoring double-digit margin with help from hustle plays by Khem Birch and Lojeski. Birch had a three-point play near the end of a 13-2 run, before Green made a long baseline jumper in transition to make it 41-24. The hosts went into the break ahead 43-28, then opened the third quarter with a 11-2 run in a matter of 2 minutes and 7 seconds when Vangelis Mantzaris nailed a triple that made it 54-30. The Reds never looked back and broke the 30-point barrier in the opening minute of the fourth, 73-43. Olympiacos lead was as large as 80-45, as it cruised to victory.
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