Spanoulis leads Reds to victory over Bilbao
Olympiakos took a crucial step toward the next round of the Euroleague as it defeated Bilbao 88-81 at home on November 23.
Nevertheless, the Greek cup holder failed to cover the 15-point deficit from the game at Bilbao in the opening round and will find itself trailing Bilbao should the two sides finish level on points.
The Basque side coached by Greek Fotis Katsikaris gave the Reds a good run for their money, leading for long spells of the game at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, but in the end could not stop an impressive Vassilis Spanoulis, the scorer of 29 points on the night, a career record.
Spanoulis scored 18 out of Olympiakos’s last 24 points in the final nine minutes to turn things around in the hosts’ favor, after Bilbao had been leading 64-60.
Kyle Hines also performed well for Olympiakos, scoring 18 points.
This was Olympiakos’s third win in six Euroleague group games.
In the Eurocup a day earlier, both Greek sides scored their first victories.
PAOK dismissed France’s Cholet with a 74-62 score in Thessaloniki, while Aris defeated Rudupis 71-60 in Lithuania.
