A poor Euroleague night for local clubs

Dynamo overtakes Olympiakos; underdog Zalgiris stuns Aris

Olympiakos’s Yiannis Bourousis (r) in action. Dynamo Moscow won 84-69 to snatch Group A’s second spot.

Olympiakos surrendered Group A’s second place to Dynamo Moscow last night with a 15-point loss, 84-69, in Russia. The two teams share 9-4 records with one round of first-stage group play remaining, but Dynamo’s victory last night gave it a better head-to-head record against Olympiakos, a 13-point winner of their encounter in Greece.

Tau Ceramica holds an insurmountable lead in the group with an 11-2 record while Efes Pilsen lies fourth, a win behind Olympiakos and Dynamo Moscow. The trio will battle for second, third and fourth places in next week’s final round of first-stage group play.

Olympiakos ends its campaign at home against German team RheinEnergie, the group’s bottom-placed team. The Piraeus team needs victory or risks slipping further in the group, which would give it a lower seeding for the next round’s draw.

Should Olympiakos lose and Efes Pilsen defeat Dynamo Moscow in Turkey next week, the combination would lock the trio on 9-5 records, a bad scenario for Olympiakos. The Greek club would end fourth because of a worse head-to-head record against both Efes and Dynamo. Wins by Olympiakos and Efes Pilsen would lift Olympiakos to second place. Wins by Olympiakos and Dynamo Moscow would preserve the status quo.

Dynamo Moscow led throughout the contest last night as it edged its way to the desired difference of 14 points or more.

Alex Acker led the scoring for Olympiakos with a total of 17 points. Dynamo Moscow’s Greek duo, Antonis Fotsis and Lazaros Papadopoulos, were among the Russian team’s leading players and scorers with respective tallies of 13 and 11 points.

Playing later last night, Aris suffered a shock 77-66 defeat against Group C’s last-placed Zalgiris in Lithuania. Zalgiris had lost 10 straight. A win would have assured the Thessaloniki team of a place in the next round. But it is now locked in a three-way battle with Pau-Orthez and Eldo Napoli, all on 6-7. Aris is placed fifth in Group C.