Olympiacos Piraeus visited Tel Aviv on Saturday for an exciting preseason clash with Maccabi Electra before which the hosts honored two of their former stars, Nikola Vujcic and Yotam Halperin. The Reds pulled out a 77-80 overtime win behind 16 points from Josh Childress. Vujcic, who spent six full seasons with Maccabi and led the team to two Euroleague titles and two more final games, was given a very warm reception and then saw his No. 7 yellow jersey raised to the rafters before tip-off. Maccabi started strong and the duo of Tre Simmons and Carlos Arroyo helped the hosts build a 21-11 lead before Olympiacos got within 7 at the end of the first period. Zoran Erceg got the Reds going in the second period and then Sofoklis Schortsanitis came off the bench and was unstoppable as the visitors knotted the game at 32-32 at halftime. The game remained tight throughout the third quarter and into the fourth before Vujcic and Halperin teamed to put the Reds up 54-59, but Rodney White kept the hosts close. White knotted the score at 68-68 with 2:20 left in regulation, but the defenses stepped up and neither team was able to score until the buzzer. In overtime, Vujcic took charge and Olympiacos built a 70-77 lead, but Maccabi came back and in the closing seconds had a chance to go ahead. However Omri Casspi's baseline effort was short, Childress wound up with the ball, drew a foul and sank 2 free throws to ice the win. Schortsanitis added 12 points and Vujcic and Erceg had 11 each for the visitors. Arroyo paced Maccabi with 14, D'Or Fischer and White scored 12 apiece, Jason Williams added 11 and Esteban Batista 10. Olympiacos will conclude its Israeli visit with an exhibition game against Maccabi Rishon on Sunday. View the preseason results of your favorite teams through this special section at Euroleague.net.

MORE PRESEASON RESULTS

 

Result

79-77

74-82

83-81

89-77

82-59

68-75

86-51

103-83

108-72

76-81

96-87

77-80

77-69

103-72