Regular Season Week 9 in review
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 Unicaja held on to beat Cibona 76-77 in Zagreb, Croatia, and stay in pole position for the top spot in Group A. German Gabriel and Omar Cook both hit from downtown in a 0-14 fourth-quarter run that put the guests ahead for good, 62-69. Alan Anderson and Davor Kus brought Cibona back and the hosts had one last chance, but Niksa Prkacin missed a layup seconds before the final buzzer. Marcus Haislip led the winners with 14 points and Boniface Ndong posted a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Anderson had 19 points in his first Euroleague game for Cibona.
Maccabi Electra led from start to finish to polish off Olympiacos Piraeus 96-83. The winter break seemed to do head coach Pini Gershon’s charges well as they were in synch offensively with five scoring in double figures. Carlos Arroyo paced Maccabi with 20 points and 5 assists, while December MVP Lior Eliyahu added 18 points and 8 rebounds – ending his double-double streak at three games. Former Maccabi star Yotam Halperin did not miss from the field en route to 14 points for the Reds.
Le Mans picked up its first won of the season by topping Air Avellino 92-88 at home. Le Mans entered the contest as the only team in the competition this season without a victory, but Dewarick Spencer recorded 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists and Brian Chase scored a season-high 21 points to change that.
Regal FC Barcelona became the Group B champion and clinched a top-seeded spot in the upcoming Top 16 Draw by downing Asseco Prokom 64-76. Roger Grimau and Ersan Ilyasova paced the winners each with 14 points. Ilyasova also added 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. It was Barca’s 12th straight win against a club from Poland.
 Zalgiris remained alive in the battle for the Top 16 by outlasting Asseco Prokom 105-94. Even without starting center and league shot-blocking leader Loren Woods, who was out with a knee injury, the Lithuanian champs swatted 9 shots. Jonas "The Bull" Maciulis paced the Zalgiris attack with a career-high 29 points, while Paulius Jankunas grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds and blocked 3 shots. Zalgaris sealed the win by scoring 41 points in the fourth quarter, matching the record for the most points scored in a single period this decade. The last team to score 41 was Real Madrid in the third quarter of a 116-94 win over Ovarense Aerosoles of Portugal in December 2000.
Montepaschi Siena hung on for an 82-77 victory over visiting Panathinaikos. The Italian champs will finish the regular season in second place if they win their last regular season game or if both they and Panathinaikos lose. Little-used Marco Carreretto was the hero for Montepaschi with 15 points on 5-of-5 three-point shooting - a point more than he had totaled in his previous four appearances. Terrell McIntyre led the hosts with 21 points, 4 assists and 3 steals. Mike Batiste had 28 points and 8 rebounds in defeat for his best scoring output since the 2005 third-placed game at the Final Four.
 Tau Ceramica outlasted Lottomatica Roma 96-103 in overtime to win Group C. It was an exciting 45 minutes of basketball truly worthy of being the deciding game in the group. Igor Rakocevic stood tall with a career-high 31 points to lead the winners. He also improved his league best scoring average to 20.1 points per game. Rakocevic shot 12 for 12 from the free-throw line and is now an incredible 51 for 51 this season. Surprisingly, Rakocevic entered the season with a career 78.2% success rate from the line. Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 4 blocked shots for the winners.
Fenerbahce Ulker stormed into the Last 16 from Group C with its highest scoring total all season in a 70-90 road win against already-eliminated Union Olimpija. Omer Onan came within 1 point of his career high with 20 points to lead the Turkish champs. Mirza Begic was the big gun for Olimpija, with a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds – both career highs.
Alba Berlin took a giant step towards reaching the Top 16 from when it grabbed a thrilling 75-79 road victory at DKV Joventut. Alba will advance to the Top 16 if it defeats last-place Union Olimpija next week. Immanuel McElroy scored a Euroleague career-hig 26 points for the winners, including shooting 4 of 4 from downtown. His game-ending dunk capped the victory and handed the German champs their first Euroleague road win since October 2002. Berlin had lost 16 consecutive Euroleague games on the road before this win.
CSKA Moscow reestablished its dominance with a 55-74 road win over Efes Pilsen behind a spectacular shooting performance from Final Four MVP Trajan Langdon. The champs led by just 1 at halftime, but ran away in the second half to lead by as many as 21 before easing up in the final minutes. Langdon shot 7 for 10 from downtown to lead CSKA with 27 points – his best output since scoring 32 as a Euroleague rookie in November 2002. CSKA became the Group D winner 24 hours after the game when Real Madrid lost to Armani Jeans.
 Partizan rejoined the race to reach the Top 16 by routing Panionios On Telecoms 80-57. Teenage sensation Jan Vesely paced the winners with 19 points and 10 rebounds, scoring 11 in a 30-9 first-quarter that set Partizan on its winning way. Slavko Vranes made his presence felt with a career-best 13 rebounds and Novica Velickovic dished a career-high 7 assists to lift Partizan.
Armani Jeans Milano survived a do-or-die situation in Group D and kept its chances to reach the Top 16 by downing Real Madrid 70-61. Madrid advanced to the Top 16 despite the loss and will finish second in Group D if it beats Efes Pilsen in the Spanish capital next week. Marco Mordente paced the winners with 23 points on 5-for-6 three-pointers. He leads the league with three-point accuracy at 60% this season and is second on the Euroleague Basketball career charts at 48.85% in 49 games to date.
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Thursday, January 08, 2009
Euroleague.net
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