The best Bulgarian basketball player Alexander Vezenkov and his Olympiacos lost to the Serbian Red Star, with the naturalized American Cody Miller-McIntyre in the lineup, with 73:81 (8:20, 19:23, 28:15, 18:23) as hosts in Greece in a match from the 30th round of the Euroleague basketball for men, BTA reported.
Red Star achieved its second victory over Olympiacos for the season and interrupted the Greek giant's series of six consecutive successes. The giants from Piraeus remain the leader in the provisional standings with 22 wins and 8 losses, and after three consecutive losses, the Serbian team recorded its 17th victory - extremely valuable in the battle for qualification for the tournament playoffs.
Alexander Vezenkov was the most productive for Olympiacos with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in 34 minutes on the field, and Miller-McIntyre also played a good game for Red Star and finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists in 25 minutes of play.
A weaker first half for the Greek team seriously tipped the scales in favor of the guests from Belgrade. The hosts fell behind by 2:17 in the middle of the first quarter. Red Star continued with the more productive game and after 10 minutes led by 20:8. Soon after the start of the second half, Alexander Vezenkov returned to the court, scoring his first point from the penalty line, reducing Olympiacos' deficit to 17:28 with six and a half minutes remaining in the first half. After another basket by Vezenkov, the hosts came close to 7 points - 24:31, but the guests pulled away again and at the break the score was 27:43.
Alexander Vezenkov had 5 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist so far, while for Red Star, Cody Miller-McIntyre accumulated 15 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
Olympiacos played a strong third quarter, in which they again reduced the distance to 8 points at 35:43, and after a three-pointer by Vezenkov, to 7 - 43:50 in the middle of the period. With two and a half minutes remaining in the half, the hosts came within 4 points - 51:55, and a little later Mustafa Fal scored for Olympiacos for 55:58 before the last quarter. In the final period, the Red Star basketball players did not lose the lead and did not allow a reversal, increasing their lead again to 15 points - 74:59 with four and a half minutes remaining in the match.
Lithuanian Rokas Giedraitis finished with the most points for the Red Star success, scoring 20, adding 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Dejan Davidovac scored 13 points, while former Olympiacos player Isaiah Cannon scored 12.
Shaquille McKissick scored 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists for the guests, while Alec Peters contributed 9 points and 3 rebounds.
Olympiacos will host Panionios in a Greek championship match on March 23, and two days later Vezenkov and his teammates will visit the French ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne in the Euroleague.
In their next matches, Red Star will visit Borac Cacak on March 23 in the Adriatic League, and on March 26 in the Euroleague, the Serbian team will host the Italian Virtus Bologna.