Sloukas leads Reds to win at Valencia
Olympiakos had Costas Sloukas as the last-minute hero at its 71-68 victory at Valencia, in Milan Tomic’s Euroleague debut on the Piraeus club’s bench.
Sloukas scored three points from the line, earned two fouls and one offensive rebound, all in the last seven seconds, to reach a tally of 14 points and gift Olympiakos the edge in this tight game in Spain.
The two teams were neck-and-neck for most of the game, with the Reds leading by two at half-time (38-36) and then by up to six in the third period (51-45).
Playing without injured Giorgos Printezis, the Greeks lacked some firepower in their frontline, but had captain Vassilis Spanoulis on fire, as he notched up 21 points on the night.
The Reds managed to frustrate the hosts in the last five minutes to turn a 62-58 deficit to a 66-62 lead, and held on for a precious win that will boost their morale.
In the Eurocup, Europe’s second tier competition, PAOK started off with an away win in Turkey beating Karsiyaka 87-81 in the second overtime on Wednesday.
