Olympiacos gained the all-important head-to-head over Real Madrid after a 99-84 win in their Euroleague, Top 16, Group F encounter in Piraeus.
The Greek side made up for their 84-72 loss to the reigning Euroleague champions earlier in the Top 16 by recording a 15-point victory, which could play a big part in the Reds’ qualification chances.
Vangelis Mantzaris led the winners with 19 points on a career high 6/6 three-point shooting. Veteran Vassilis Spanoulis added 18.
“We were very aggressive today, from the beginning, defensively and offensively,” Mantzaris said. “We wanted this win very much and showed it since the beginning of the game.”
Olympiacos and Real Madrid both join Barcelona, Brose Baskets and now Khimki on 6-6 records in quite possibly the most tightly contested Top 16 phases in history after the latter of the aforementioned sides edged Zalgiris 76-71 in Kaunas.
Tyrese Rice led the winners with 17 points, while Edgaras Ulanovas paced an already eliminated Zalgiris with 17 points.
Anadolu Efes’ 87-67 Group F victory over Unicaja Malaga kept them in with a chance of qualification to the Euroleague quarter-finals.
The Turkish side led from start to finish against the Liga Endesa side with a pivotal 16-2 finish to the second quarter proving key to their success.
“We played a good game,” said Anadolu’s Thomas Heurtel who paced the winners with 17 points. “We started good. We still have small chance to reach the playoffs. We have to play game by game and see what will happen in the future.”
Despite being eliminated Cedevita Zagreb gained a stunning 89-59 victory over quarter-final bound Fenerbahce in the Croatian capital.
Marko Arapovic led Cedevita with 18 points in what was otherwise a dead rubber contest.
