EUROLEAGUE – Papaloukas pulls the strings for victorious Olympiacos; Fener edge Zalgiris

ATHENS (Euroleague) - Olympiacos veteran Theo Papaloukas doesn't make as many headlines as he did during his glorious six-year run with CSKA Moscow.

But the 33-year-old proved one thing on Wednesday night in his team's 77-62 Euroleague Top 16 triumph over Power Electronics Valencia.

The 2.00m tall point guard still has the ability to control a game like few others can.

Coming off the bench for Dusan Ivkovic in a vital Group H game at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Athens, Papaloukas (pictured) had eight points, nine assists and three steals as the Reds improved to 2-1 and dropped La Taronja to 1-2.

Olympiacos got solid performances from a host of players, but the game-winner was Papaloukas.

In a bid to contain him, Valencia coach Svetislav Pesic had the athletic and tall Victor Claver and Florent Pietrus guard the Greek but it made no difference.

It didn't help the visitors that Vassilis Spanoulis was also on top of his game, scoring 14 points and handing out four assists for the Reds.

"If Spanoulis and Papaloukas, with his experience, are as good as they were tonight, it's difficult to find results," Pesic admitted.

Papaloukas was so good that Reds fans must be wondering if he’ll wear the Greece shirt this summer at the EuroBasket in Lithuania.

He hasn’t played for Greece since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Most important for Olympiacos was their defense.

They harassed Valencia as no other team has been able to do since Pesic replaced Manuel Hussein at the beginning of November, forcing the Spanish club to turn the ball over 21 times.

Nando De Colo had six turnovers for Valencia, while Omar Cook, Claver and Robertas Javtokas were guilty of four apiece.

"We played excellent," Olympiacos coach Dusan Ivkovic  said, "pressing the ball on the perimeter and forcing them to make 21 turnovers."

Valencia did get another solid performance from Serhiy Lishchuk with the Ukrainian center scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds - four on the offensive glass.

But the combination of Rasho Nesterovic (17pts and two blocks) and Ioannis Bourousis (11pts, 7rbs, 3bl) for Olympiacos gave the hosts victory in the frontline battle.

Fenerbahce Ulker, meanwhile, won for the third consecutive time in Group H by beating BC Zalgiris (0-3), 80-72.

The Lithuanian giants played inspired basketball at the Sinan Erdem Dome, getting 14 points apiece from Lithuania international Paulius Jankunas and DeJuan Collins.

They led 59-58 early in the fourth quarter after a three-pointer by Marcus Brown.

But Marko Tomas answered with a shot from the arc for Fener to reclaim the advantage and Fener had their noses in front to stay.

Zalgiris kept the game close, due in large part to the woeful Fenerbahce free-throw shooting.

The Turkish club made just nine of 22 (40.9%) at the charity stripe.

"If we could have scored better on free throws, then we could have won much more easily," Fener coach Neven Spahija said.

Turkey national team center Oguz Savas and Tomas each had 15 points, and Emir Preldzic and Mirsad Turkcan poured in 13 apiece.

There will be six Top 16 games on Thursday night.

FIBA