February 09, 2012
Regular Season Week 7 in review
Rawle Marshall - CibonaAnother two teams climbed into the Top 16 and several others improved their positions, while a monumental winning streak came to an end and a few others grew all in Week 7. CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos are the two newest Top 16 teams and as many as six more could join them next week. Meanwhile the second longest active home-court winning streak ended at 18 games when Panathinaikos lost at OAKA to Regal FC Barcelona, but the longest current streak reached 21 when Unicaja outlasted Olympiacos 60-56 behind 17 points from Thomas Kelati to force a tie at 5-2 atop Group A. Unicaja trailed for much of the game, but battled back to set up an exciting finish to the game and now the regular season. Still the Reds managed to punch a ticket to the Top 16 after Maccabi defeated Air Avellino 72-86 Thursday for its first road win of the season. Marcus Brown scored a season-high 26 points as Maccabi moved within a win of the trio of group leaders, since Cibona blasted Le Mans 89-70 to join Olympiacos and Unicaja in first place. Rawle Marshall fired in 21 points to pace Cibona, which visits the Reds next week. In Group B game, Barca stunned Panathinaikos 76-87 to hand the Greens their first loss at OAKA in nearly two years. Davis Andersen led the attack with 22 points and 9 rebounds – both season-highs. Barca now shares first place with the Italian champs after Montepaschi Siena topped Zalgiris 100-93. Henry Domercant shot 4 for 4 from downtown to lead Montepaschi with 21. Siena and Barca are now 6-1 before meeting next week. SLUC Nancy bested Asseco Prokom 78-70 for to reopen the battle for the last Top 16 berth from Group B. Cyril Julian continued his outstanding season with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 5 steals for the winners. Tau Ceramica crushed Union Olimpija 101-69 to improve to 5-2 in Group C. It now shares the top spot after DKV Joventut overcame Lottomatica Roma 97-93 on Bracey Wright's 19 points. In Tuesday's early game, Alba Berlin held off Fenerbahce Ulker 72-63 thanks to Ansu Sesay's 17 points. In Group D, CSKA routed Panionios On Telecoms 93-61 to bounce back from last week's win and clinch its Top 16 ticket. Matjaz Smodis scored a season-high 15 points for CSKA, which could have chance to wrap up first place as early as next week. Efes Pilsen downed Armani Jeans Milano 74-67 to move out of last place. Efes joins Panionios and Real Madrid in a three-way tie for third place. Milos Vujanic led Efes with 20. Madrid edged Partizan Belgrade 68-67 on Marko Tomas's game-winning three in the closing seconds. Panionios hosts Efes and Madrid heads to Moscow next week as the tight battle for the Top 16 from Group D rages on…

Unicaja forged a three-way tie for first place in Group A when it outlasted Olympiacos 60-56 behind another strong shooting night from Thomas Kelati. The shooting guard was 3 for 7 from downtown and led the hosts with 16 points, including insurance free throws with 18 seconds left. It was the fourth game in a row that Kelati made at least 3 three-pointers. The Reds meanwhile, were 1 for 11 from downtown.

Cibona took a huge step to solidifying its spot in the Top 16 with a convincing 89-70 victory over Le Mans. Cibona used a 13-2 run in the third quarter to take control of the game and then never let the guests closer than 12 points in the fourth quarter. Rawle Marshall led all scorers with 21 and Earl Calloway scored in double figures for the sixth straight game with 18.

Derrick Sharp - Maccabi ElectraMaccabi Electra moved ever closer to a ticket to the Top 16 with its first road win of the season, 72-86, at Air Avellino. Marcus Brown led Maccabi with a season-high 26 points, while D'Or Fischer and Lior Eliyahu both added double-doubles. Eliyahu followed up last week's MVP performance with 18 points and 10 rebounds, marking the first time he recorded a double-double in back-to-back games. Fischer posted 17 points and 10 rebounds. Maccabi needs either one more win or an Avellino loss to advance to the Top 16.

Regal FC Barcelona became the first team to beat Panathinaikos at the Athens Indoor Olympic Arena in nearly two years with a resounding 76-87 win. David Andersen led Barca with 22 points and 9 rebounds – both season highs. The last time the Greens lost at OAKA was in January 2007, falling 80-93 to Partizan. Current Panathinaikos players Nikola Pekovic and Dusan Kecman both played for the Serbian champs in that game. Panathinaikos had won 18 straight – including two at the 2007 Final Four – since that night.

Montepaschi Siena remained in the race to win Group B by downing Zalgiris 100-93. Henry Domercant paced the winners with 21 points on 4-for-4 three-point shooting, while Ksistof Lavrinovic contributed 19. It was the first time Montepaschi reached 100 points since the 2004 Final Four in Tel Aviv, when it lost to Fortitudo Bologna 102-104 in the semifinals in overtime. Interestingly, the last time Montepaschi scored exactly 100 points was almost six years ago to the day against the same team when it beat Zalgiris 74-100 in Kaunas on December 12, 2002.

Ricardo Greer - SLUC NancySLUC Nancy used an 11-1 surge over the final 2:20 to top Asseco Prokom 78-70 and remain alive in the hunt for the Top 16. Michel Morandais hit 4 three-pointers in scoring 18 points, while Cyril Julian recorded 13 points, 14 rebounds and 5 steals for the winners. Prokom was outrebounded 45-35 and committed 19 turnovers as lost its fourth straight game to drop to 2-5. However the Polish champs still hold the potential tiebreaker over Nancy thanks to a better result in the first game between these teams - a 29-point victory.

Tau Ceramica pounded Union Olimpija 101-69 to remain alive in the fight for the top spot in Group C. Interim head coach Gasper Potocnik seemed to spark Olimpija early, but that wore off and then Tau wore Olimpija down. Will McDonald led five Tau scorers in double figures with 21 points, while Igor Rakocevic was rested for much of the game and finished with a season-low 5 points, but remains the league leader with 18 points per game.

Another would-be Top 16 qualifier was denied in Week 7 when DKV Joventut defeated Lottomatica Roma 97-93 in an offensive thriller. Joventut improved to 4-3 and took over third place in Group C, while Roma dropped to 5-2 and a first-place tie with Tau Ceramica. Bracey Wright led the winners with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists – all season highs.

Alba Berlin rejoined the race to reach the Top 16 by downing Fenerbahce Ulker 72-63. The German champs remained undefeated at the O2 Arena thanks to Ansu Sesay, who scored a season-high 17 points in his fifth straight game in double figures in points. Fener led by double digits early, but Sesay and Casey Jacobson, who netted a season-high 13, led Berlin back to an important win.

Trajan Langdon - CSKACSKA Moscow advanced to the Top 16 by crushing Panionios On Telecoms 93-61. Two players for the champs entered the history books with their performances. Swingman Trajan Langdon scored 14 points to crack the Euroleague Basketball career top 10 with 1,633 points, while Nikos Zisis dished 8 assists to move into a tie with Elmer Bennett for 10th place with 334 career assists. Team captain Matjaz Smodis led CSKA with a season-high 15.

Real Madrid edged Partizan 68-67 on a Marko Tomas triple in the closing seconds. The game featured six three-pointers in the last two minutes before the hosts pulled out a key win that moved them into second place in the group. Felipe Reyes led the winners with 15 points and 9 rebounds, marking his seventh straight game in double figures in points, while Tomas added 10 points for Madrid. Uros Tripkovic had his best game of the season for Partizan with 22 points, matching his career-high with 6 three-pointers.

Efes Pilsen revived its Top 16 hopes with a hard-fought 74-67 win over Armani Jeans Milano. Milos Vujanic produced 20 points and 4 assists and Kaya Peker posted 19 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals to lead Efes, which snapped a four-game losing streak. It was Vujanic’s first 20-point game in three-and-a-half years, since he scored 23 for Fortitudo Bologna in a Top 16 game in February 2005.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Euroleague.net
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