Olympiakos was the big winner in the major A1 basketball derby after the reds scored a 65-61 win at OAKA stadium to take over top spot in the league.

Incredibly, it was the reds’ first win away from home since 2007 against their bitter rivals (after 13 straight defeats), a result made doubly interesting given that both sides were undefeated in the league this season with 11 wins apiece.

Rasho Nesterovic was a star for the reds, scoring 17 points and holding firm in the heart of defence.

Milos Teodosic added 10 points and 4 assists, Zoran Erceg netted 10 points and Theo Papaloukas had nine points and five assists.

Vassilis Spanoulis was on the receiving end of walls of abuse in his first game as an Olympiakos player since his summer move from Panathinaikos, but had four points and six assists.

Drew Nicholas led the home side, with 15 points, Romain Sato scored 13 points and six rebounds, Antonis Fotsis had nine points and seven boards, but the ever-reliable Dimitris Diamantidis bagged just two points on 0-for-9 shooting.

The guard had been suffering from a virus for the past few days and looked a shadow of himself as he failed to spark PAO’s game, scoring only two points in the process.

Olympiakos scored the last seven points of the first half for a 34-36 halftime lead on a Yotam Halperin buzzer beater.

Panathinaikos regained control and led 58-55 with four minutes remaining, but Olympiakos showed its character with a 0-7 run to snatch the victory.

The win means that Olympiakos have a perfect record and 24 points from 12 games. Panathinaikos have 23.

Finishing top of the A1 League is vital as it gives that team home court advantage in the best-of-five play-off finals, should the team that finishes first in the regular season make it that far.

In Wednesday’s other games, Panionios beat Aris 89-84 in Thessalonica, Iraklis dispelled some relegation worries by beating Ikaros Kallitheas 78-64, Kavala dominated Panellinios 81-70, Kolossos Rhodes kept up their decent record with a 71-66 home win over PAOK and Peristeri completed the series of home wins with a 68-61 defeat of Ilisiakos.

Last week’s Greek Players of the Week went to Aris’ PJ Tucker after the American poured in 20 of his 28 points in the second half and fired Aris to a 74-65 win at AEK Athens.

He ended up with an evaluation of 37 points.

“I am very happy about this,” he said of the honor.

“The most important thing for me is that my team won an away game. I do not play on my stats.

“What interests me is to do whatever my coach asks me to do to win matches.

“I give 100 per cent and I try to be focused on my goal.”

Tucker paid tribute to his team-mates.

“Undoubtedly, all my team-mates helped the team reach the target,” he added. “It is team work and it shows in every game.

“Most times, there are four and five players hitting double-digits in points.

“Also, very good cooperation between us can be seen from the number of assists that we have in each game. So against AEK Saturday, we finished the game having 18 assists.

“That’s important to get the win.”

As they attempt to solidify their standing in Greece, the team is third in the table.

“I think every day we get significantly better, especially on defence,” he said.

“We were able to work more in this during the time when we did not have matches.

“I think we have room for improvement.

“We will continue working in the same way and hope to achieve our objectives in Greece and Europe.”

Aris are in the Last 16 of the Eurocup.