Monaco shocks Olympiakos in Piraeus to tie the series 1-1

Olympiakos suffered a bad upset at home in the second game of its play-off series with Monaco, losing 96-72 at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Friday. The best-of-five quarterfinals are now tied 1-1 and the series is now taken to Monaco.

Game 2 was nothing like Game 1, as this time the Reds were unable to contain Mike James in the second half. The influential Monaco guard had just two points in the first half, but made 21 in the second to lead the Monegasques to an easy triumph that snatched the home advantage away from the Greeks.

Olympiakos had a strong start, leading 16-10 after the first quarter, but Monaco had a partial 30-12 in Q2 to lead 40-28 and never look back after that.

“It was not our night, but we will come back,” promised Olympiakos coach Giorgos Bartzokas after the game.

He had Sasha Vezenkov score 14 points, while Kostas Papanikolaou and Tyler Dorsey made 12 each.

Game 3 will take place next Wednesday, April 27.