Emporio Armani Milano pulled away in the fourth to record a stunning 72-66 victory away at Partizan.
Needing to win by four points or more to qualify, Milano reached their target and eliminated Partizan who simply needed to win, but choked in-front of a sell-out crowd at the Pionir Hall.
“Partizan was better in the first half and we were better in the second,” Milano coach Sergio Scariolo said after the game.
“The win is extremely important to us for two reasons. For the first time in club history we reached Top 16 in the Turkish Airlnes Euroleague. And for the first time Armani won in Belgrade. Wins like this make us stronger and bigger.”
It looked bad for Milano, after a mistake from Omar Cook gifted Dragan Milosavljevic a long three-pointer which gave Partizan a 36-29 lead at the half.
The visitors though regrouped and smart possessions, combined with solid rebounding and defence gave Milano the victory, as Partizan over-reliant on three-point shots.
Despite his error at the end of the second, Cook led the scoring with 17 points and six rebounds. Milosavljevic led Partizan with 14 points.
Gescrap Bilbao also qualified for the Top 16 after a 77-72 win against Caja Laboral and due to Bilbao winning the head-to-head over their bitter ACB rivals, it means that they finish fourth, and Caja Laboral finish fifth, eliminating them from the Euroleague.
Marko Banic led Bilbao with 18 points, supported by Janis Blums with 11. Caja Laboral were led by Milko Bjelica with 15 points. Euroleague’s top scorer, Mirza Teletovic was held to a season-low 12 points. The Bosnian averaged 21.7 points in the regular season.
“The crowd has been awesome and this was a special night. Now we just want to celebrate it,” Banic said. “It didn’t matter if we eliminated Caja Laboral or anyone else, we just wanted to win and make it to the Top 16.”
Fenerbahce claimed top spot in a tightly contested Group A after an 83-76 win at Bennet Cantu.
It was close throughout, as both teams were deadlocked at 31-31 at the half and 55-55 after the third quarter, but a fourth quarter surge from Fenerbahce gave them a deserved win.
Bennet Cantu finish with a 5-5 record, and finish third in the group.
Oguz Savas led the Istanbul side with 21 points with Giorgi Shermadini heading Bennet Cantu with 13 points.
That win condemned Olympiacos to second place in Group A, despite a 79-74 road win at SLUC Nancy, who finished bottom of the table with a 3-7 record.
Without leading scorer Vassilis Spanoulis, Pero Antic stepped-up to lead the victors with 20 points. Nancy were led by Jamal Shuler with 18 points.
Elsewhere, there were wins for Real Madrid, as they bested Anadolu Efes 75-66, thanks to 16 points from Nikola Mirotic, while Maccabi Electra comfortably dispatched of Belgacom Spirou 86-69 in Charleroi. Keith Langford led the Israelis with 20 points personal.
