Galatasaray, Belgacom Spirou reach Turkish Airlines Euroleague!
 Galatasaray and Belgacom Spirou Basket advanced to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season by winning their respective qualifying rounds events in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Charleroi, Belgium. Galatasaray overcame Lietuvos Rytas 63-71 at Siemens Arena in Vilnius to advance to the Euroleague Regular Season for the first time in club history. Galatasaray trailed early, but used a 2-13 run to take a 28-30 halftime lead and continued to add to it throughout the second half. Head coach Oktay Mahmuti’s men will play in Euroleague Group D with Asseco Prokom, FC Barcelona Regal, Montepaschi Siena, Unics Kazan and Union Olimpija. Preston Shumpert paced the Galatasaray attack with 14 points off the bench. Spirou established itself as the king of qualifying for the second year in a row by routing CEZ Nymburk 79-53 at the Spiroudome in Charleroi. The Belgian champs pulled away in the second quarter to take a 34-21 halftime lead and never looked back as the margin crossed the 30-point mark in the fourth quarter. Chris Hill shined with 21 points and 12 rebounds for Spirou, which advances to Euroleague Regular Season Group C, where it will meet Anadolu Efes, Emporio Armani Milano, Maccabi Electra, Partizan m:ts and Real Madrid. Rytas and Nymburk will compete in the Eurocup this season, a competition Rytas won just two seasons ago.
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