Caja Laboral maintain clean sheet; Squeak past Olympiacos 81-79: Euroleague Recap
Caja Laboral remained the only unbeaten team in the Group A of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague 2011 after downing Olympiacos 81-79 in one of the closest showcases of the tournament on November 02, 2011 at the Iradier Arena in Vitoria,
Spain. The Reds are now 3-0 in their group while Olympiacos dropped to 2-1.
"This is an important win for us that gets us closer to our goal, which is to make it to the Top 16,” Caja Laboral Head Coach Dusko Ivanovic said of their third consecutive success early in the season.
Mirza Teletovic headed all scorers with 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and stole the ball twice. Teletovic ended on an 11 for 13 shooting from free throw line. Kevin Seraphin and Fernando San Emeterio chipped in 15 points each.
However, it was Pablo Prigioni, who slammed the door on the Olympiacos with a go-ahead jumper just 1.7 seconds before time.
Vassilis Spanoulis led Olympiacos with 19 points, seven assists and three rebounds while Pero Antic and Kyle Hines each racked up 14 points in the loss. Marko Keselj ended with 10 points on 2 for 3 shooting from three-point range.
Laboral shot 68.4 percent (26 for 38) from two-point range while Olympiacos finished on 21 for 37 (56.7 percent).
Olympiacos were looking to bounce back from their previous defeat and got off to a good start with an 11-6 lead early in the first quarter. Laboral then made three consecutive shots to bring the game within two points at 11-9.
However, Olympiacos did not lose their concentration and outscored Caja 11-4 in the last four minutes of the opening period to take a 22-13 lead into the second.
In the second quarter, with just one-minute left, Caja trimmed their deficit to four, 36-32. But, the Reds turned it on late again, this time with a four point burst to take a 40-32 lead at halftime.
The entire third period was tight as the Olympiacos countered Laboral shot by shot. Laboral however kept on pushing and made it a three-point contest with one minute remaining. However, a brilliant three-pointer by Martynas Gecevicius
kept the Reds way ahead at 66-60, after three.
The difference was neutralized in a hurry through as Laboral opened the final stanza with a 6-0 run. The six points were a cog of the 19-8 surge that took the Spaniards to a 79-74 lead.
The Greeks did not lose hope though and responded swiftly with a 5-0 spurt to make it even at 79. Prigioni then set the crowd on fire with his go-ahead jumper. Martynas Gecevicius missed a two-pointer in the closing second and
that ended a humdinger.
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