Olympiacos Piraeus came from 19 down in the third quarter to stun CSKA Moscow 61-62 and become the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion
In a game for the ages, Olympiacos Piraeus came from 19 down in the third quarter to stun CSKA Moscow 61-62 and become the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion. Georgios Printezis’s floater with 0.7 seconds left won it for the Reds, who become European champions for the second time in competition history. Olympiacos also won in 1997, also under head coach Dusko Ivkovic. A brilliant game at both ends by Kostas Papanikolaou led the new champs with 18 points. Vassilis Spanoulis added 15 points and Printezis had 12. CSKA led 53-34 in the third quarter and seemed well on its way to victory, but a 14-point run brought the Reds back and they stayed close until the end. The turning point came when former MVP Ramunas Siskauskas missed twice from the line with 9.7 seconds left and his team up 1. Olympiacos came down at the other end, got the ball to Printezis and the rest is history. Milos Teodosic paced CSKA with 15 points, Andrei Kirilenko posted 12 points and 10 rebounds and Nenad Krstic added 11 in defeat.
Lietuvos Rytas is the new champion of the Nike International Junior Tournament after a 88-70 victory over Fenerbahce Ulker
Lietuvos Rytas is the new champion of the Nike International Junior Tournament after a 88-70 victory over Fenerbahce Ulker in the title game on Sunday afternoon at Sinan Erdem Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. In the 10th edition of the tournament Rytas won its first title after losing the final of 2009 to INSEP. Edvinas Seskus had 17 points for the new champs, Augustinas Jankaitis added 15, Tautvydas Jodelis finished with 12 and Alvydas Zarskus collected 11. James Birsen led the runner-ups with 20 points, Umar Atin finished with 13 and Mehmet Sanli collected 11 points with 14 rebounds. One player that made it to the record books of the NIJT is Jokubas Gintvainis of Rytas won dished 10 assists and by that tied the record for most assists in an NIJT final round tournament set by FMP's Nenad Miljenovic in 2009 against Lietovus Rytas.
The first quarter was still close with Jankaitis scoring around the rim to set the gap on 20-14 before Sanli displayed his abilities to make it 22-20 at the sound of the first buzzer. Jodelis capped a 7-0 run that put Rytas in front by nine points, and his jumper right before the end of the first half pushed Rytas to a 42-31 lead at the end of the first half. If FB-Ulker had any fantasies to move closer the first minutes of the second half were a wake up call. Jankaitis added points around the rim and set the score on 49-33 with less than 17 minutes to play. Low accuracy by FB-Ulker allowed Zarskus to set the gap on 71-51 early in the deciding quarter and despite some long range shots by Birsen there was no hope for his team to complete a comeback.
