Zalgiris rallies to conquer Piraeus 26

Facing a must-win situation in one of the toughest road venues on the continent, Zalgiris Kaunas came back from a 12-point third-quarter deficit to edge and sweep Olympiacos Piraeus 68-72 at Peace and Friendship Stadium on Friday night.

Both teams enter the final round of the regular season with 14-15 records, but a sweep gives Zalgiris the edge over Olympiacos in a very tight playoff race.

Aaron White paced the winners with 14 points, Brandon Davies collected 13 points and 7 rebounds, while Leo Westermann netted 11 for Zalgiris.

Briante Weber led the hosts with 26 points, while Nikola Milutinov amassed 18 points plus 12 rebounds in a losing effort.

Three-pointers from Kostas Papanikolaou, Vangelis Mantzaris and Weber gave Olympiacos 13-6 lead early. Zalgiris went inside nearly on every possession, and cut into the deficit through White and a pair of dunks from Davies. A runner from Marius Grigonis made it 18-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Triples from Arturas Milaknis and Westermann at the start of the second gave the Zalgiris its first lead, and put it up 18-24. But the hosts charged back, as a jumper and a transition three-pointer by Weber helped them re-take the lead, before Milutinov strung together 7 points to put Olympiacos up 36-28. The hosts went into half-time leading 38-34.

Olympiacos used stiff defense and 6 points from Weber to increase the margin to 51-39. However, the visitors scored the final 9 points of the quarter, as a Milaknis triple made it 51-48 going into the fourth quarter.

Milaknis nailed another three, and Nate Wolters made a fastbreak floater to give Zalgiris a 51-53 edge. Weber snapped a 0-14 run, but White from long range and Davies twice inside made it 57-62 with exactly 5 minutes left. Weber fueled a 6-0 run to restore Olympiacos’s lead, but a tip-in by Deon Thompson and a floater by Westermann made it 65-68 with 75 seconds to go. In the final minute, Zalgiris made a pair of defensive stands, then ran out the clock before Marius Grigonis twice made a pair of free throws in the final 6.5 seconds to cling onto a huge victory.