Milan holds off Olympiacos, grabs key road win

In a physical battle that went down to the wire, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan registered its first road win of the Top 16 by edging reigning Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion Olympiacos Piraeus 86-88 on Thursday. Milan improved to 6-3, stayed second in Group E and won its second game against Olympiacos, which dropped to 4-5. Keith Langford paced the winners with 20 points and 8 assists. Gani Lawal added 13 wile Curtis Jerrells had 11 for Milan. Stratos Perperoglou led Olympiacos with 22 points. Georgios Printezis scored 16, Kostas Sloukas 13 and Bryant Dunston 11 for the hosts, who were without reigning Euroleague MVP Vassilis Spanoulis. Olympiacos opened the game with a 10-0 run and an outstanding Perperoglou allowed the Reds to get a 29-17 margin late in the first quarter. Milan found its regular go-to guy in Langford, who brought Milan within 29-23 after 10 minutes. He got help from Jerrells and Kristjan Kangur to give Milan its first lead, 40-41. A three-pointer by Jerrells gave the guests as 47-50 edge at halftime. Both teams played with even more intensity after the break, but Jerrells and Langford managed to keep Milan ahead, 63-65, through three quarters. A 0-8 run that Lawal capped with free throws made it a double-digit game, 63-73. Olympiacos rallied and a jumper by Perperoglou gave the Reds an 81-80 lead. A jumper by Daniel Hackett and a critical three-pointer by Langford allowed Milan to cruise to a really important win.