Winners' Cup 2001 Final: Jimmy Oliver leads Maroussi to title
In 2001 the Winners’ Cup final was played by Maroussi and Elan Chalon in the Polish city of Warsaw, where the Greeks won by a tight margin (74-72), thanks mainly to the MVP of the final, scorer Jimmy Oliver
Quarterfinals Keravnos - Valencia Basket Antwerp - Unics Kazan Maroussi - Baskets Bonn Elan Chalon - Anwil
Semi-finals Valencia Basket - Elan Chalon Unics Kazan - Maroussi
Maroussi and Elan Chalon, two teams with a poor record and a few wins, were reaching a European final for the first time. The victory fell to the Greek side in a heart-stopping finale, thanks to two free kicks by Sotiris Nikolaidis with 14 seconds to go. Previously, the French had made a great comeback that culminated in a triple by Andre Owens that put 72-72 on the scoreboard. As soon as the match was tied, Elan Chalon fouled Nikolaidis, who scored both of his shots. However, the French side failed to capitalise on their last possession and did not even get a shot on the Greek goal. The big names in the final were Vangelis Vourtzoumis (who “dried up” Stanley Jackson in the second quarter and left him with just one point, after the American scored nine in the first) and Jimmy Oliver (who scored 31 points, 19 of them after the break).
Maroussi 74 *Falekas - 13p, 3r *Maslarinos - 4p, 3r *Oliver - 31p, 1a *Amaya - 15p, 6r *Evtimov - 7p, 18r Nikolaidis - 4p, 3a Karaplis - 0p Marmarinos - 0p, 1r Vourtzoumis - 0p, 1r
Elan Chalon 72 *Jackson - 12p, 7r, 6a *Owens - 7p, 2r *Vespasien - 0p *Giffa - 4p, 6r *Gulyas - 10p, 2r Tomic - 0p Hay - 6p, 3a Ostrowski - 14p, 2br Lee - 19p, 5r