Vassilis Spanoulis scored 18 of his Euroleague career-high 29 points to lead Olympiacos to a crucial 88-81 victory over Gescrap BB on Wednesday at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, Greece.
Spanoulis scored the go-ahead basket, assisted on the bucket that put the Reds up 9 and helped seal the win with 4 free throws in the final minute as Olympiacos survived to improve to 3-3 in tightly wound Group A. The loss dropped Gescrap to 2-4. Olympiacos jumped ahead to a 19-9 start, but Bilbao came back to within 45-42 by halftime and led for much of the third quarter. Alas Spanoulis turned up at his best in the fourth quarter to steer Olympiacos to victory. Kyle Hines added 18 points and 7 rebounds for the winners and Pero Antic scored 13. Alex Mumbru paced Gescrap with 17 points, Marko Banic scored 15, Janis Blums 14 and Aaron Jackson finished with 13 and 4 assists.