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Olympiacos snapped a seven-game losing streak against CSKA Moscow by downing the Russian champs 71-67 to secure a berth in the Top 16. Milos Teodosic, who scored a total of 23 points in his last five games, led the Reds with 20 points. It was also the first victory in the career of Olympacos head coach Pini Gershon over CSKA boss Ettore Messina.
Montepaschi also clinched a Top 16 berth with a big 83-71 home win over Tau Ceramica as Terrell McIntyre drilled 6 three-pointers en route to matching his season-highs with 20 points and 7 assists plus 7 steals. All five starters scored in double figures for the Italian champs, who committed only 9 turnovers – 10 fewer than Tau.
Marcus Brown heated up with 11 points – including 3 consecutive three-pointers – in a 0-16 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters to lead Zalgiris into the Top 16 with a 74-83 road win over Union Olimpija. It was the Lithuanian champs fifth straight win. Brown, who finished with 22 points to lead all scorers, is now a three-pointer away from 2,200 career points.
With the injured Milan Gurovic and Tomas Van den Spiegel in the starting lineup, Prokom recorded its first home win of the season, 79-59 over Virtus VidiVici Bologna. Both players were expected to sit out, but instead Gurovic matched his season-high with 25 points and Van den Spiegel contributed 8 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks to the team effort. Filip Dylewicz erupted for 17 points, 9 boards and 4 assists – all career-highs. Van den Spiegel’s 3 blocks moved him into the top 10 all-time shot blockers in Euroleague Basketball history.
Maccabi Elite won its second straight game under new head coach Zvika Sherf, defeating Unicaja 87-68 in Tel Aviv. Maccabi advanced to the Top 16 and returned to the battle for the top spots in Group B. Marcus Fizer scored 16 first-period points and finished with 19 for the hosts, while teenage forward Omri Casspi had 11 points and 6 rebounds – 5 on the offensive end – in 12 minutes.
Lietuvos Rytas rallied from a double-digit deficit in the final four minutes to edge Aris TT Bank 69-72 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Hollis Price hit the go-ahead layup with 19.8 seconds to go and Bracey Wright missed a driving layup in the closing seconds for Aris. Kenan Bajramovic led L. Rytas with 18 points, making him the fourth different player in as many games to lead the team in scoring. L. Rytas has now won five in a row.
Efes Pilsen rallied late to deny Le Mans its first win of the season with an 84-91 overtime victory. Efes, which trailed 74-61 after three periods, held Le Mans to just 6 points in the fourth quarter and 4 in the overtime period. Kenny Gregory scored 19 for Efes against his former club, while center Loren Woods erupted for 16 points and 18 rebounds – both season-highs – en route to Week 11 MVP honors. It marks the second week in a row that an Efes player is MVP, following Scoonie Penn last week.
Cibona registered its first road win of the season by edging Armani Jeans 63-72 in Milan, Italy. Chris Warren paced the winners with 27 points on 5-for-8 three-point shooting and 10 rebounds. Warren matched a Euroleague career-high with 5 triples and scored more than 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time 31 career Euroleague appearances. The duo of Warren and Larry Ayuso combined for 59.2% of Cibona’s points.
Defending champion Panathinaikos now has the best record in the Euroleague this season after edging AXA FC Barcelona 55-56 in Spain. The Greens took a major step towards becoming the Group C champion and now with a 10-1 record lead the group by two victories. Sweet shooting big man Kostas Tsartsaris drilled a career-high 5 three-pointers on the way to season-high of 20 points and 8 rebounds and but Vassilis hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 31.8 seconds remaining to lead Panathinaikos.
Real Madrid stormed into the Top 16 from Group C by holding on for a 72-80 road win over Partizan Igokea in Belgrade, Serbia. The Spanish champs improved to 12-0 all-time against Partizan. Madrid held Partizan center Nikola Pekovic, the top-rated performer in the Euroleague going into the game, to a season-low 6 points for the second time this season. Pekovic is averaging 6 points per game against Madrid this season and 21 against the rest of the league. Felipe Reyes scored 15 to lead the winners, including 6 in a 4-12 run to finish off the game.
Fenerbahce Ulker downed Chorale Roanne 81-68 in Istanbul, Turkey, to inch closer to a Top 16 berth. Willie Solomon led the winners with 19 points and 4 assists. He is in the midst of his best Euroleague season, averaging career-bests for points and assists. Shooting guard Tarence Kinsey was scoreless in 15 minutes in his Euroleague debut.
Lottomatica Roma remained strong in the battle for a spot in the Top 16 with a 59-73 road win at Brose Bamberg Bamberg. The win was Roma’s first away from home this season and set the stage for a big showdown against Partizan next week. Erazem Lorbek led the winners with 16 points and David Hawkins and Alan Ray added 15 points apiece. Lorbek has scored in double figures in every game this season.
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Euroleague.net
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