78:82! Anadolu Efes unpleasantly surprised Olympiacos and Vezenkov in Athens

Alexander Vezenkov and his Greek team Olympiacos lost to the Turkish Anadolu Efes with 78:82 (25:28, 26:20, 16:19, 11:15) as hosts in Athens in a match from the fourth round in the Euroleague for men after a weaker second half.

Olympiacos suffered its second loss in its four games so far, and after two consecutive defeats, the team from Istanbul recorded its second success since the beginning of the season.

Alexander Vezenkov started among the starters and finished with 12 points, which he scored in the first half, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 stolen ball in 30 minutes on the court.

Even after the matches from the previous round of the Euroleague, one of Vezenkov's memorable achievements was noted - crossing the 3000-point mark in the competition.

The Olympiacos team led by 9 points at 14:5 three and a half minutes after the start of the match, but the guests scored 10 unanswered points, turning the score to 15:14 in their favor. Vezenkov scored two free throws at 16:15, but Anadolu Efes took the lead again and at the end of the first quarter took a 28:25 lead.

The Turkish team managed to break away by 10 points - 41:31 with six and a half minutes remaining in the second half. However, the hosts made up for their deficit with a 10-0 run to tie the game at 41-41, secured by two accurate shots from the penalty line by Alexander Vezenkov three minutes before the break. The Bulgarian international scored 4 consecutive points again, giving Olympiacos a 51-48 lead after 20 minutes of play.

The Greek giants led 57-50 in the opening two and a half minutes of the second half. Anadolu Efes briefly had a 2-point lead, but Olympiacos held on for most of the third quarter to tie the game 67:67 before the final period.

Neither team could pull away by more than 4 points in the remaining time, and after several lead changes, the Turkish team triumphed at the end.

The top scorer for the winners from Anadolu Efes was Cole Swider with 20 points and 3 rebounds, while Shane Larkin contributed with 18 points and 3 assists.

For Olympiacos, Alec Peters scored 14 points and 4 rebounds, while Tyson Ward had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.

In the next round of the Euroleague, Olympiacos will face the Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Serbian capital Belgrade on October 16, and three days later Vezenkov and his teammates host Panionios in a match from the Greek championship.