Gescrap Bilbao outclassed Real Madrid 93-69 at the Bilbao Arena to give themselves a good shot of qualifying from the Top 16 of the Euroleague.
In what was supposed to be an intense and close game, where Real needed to win to improve to 3-1 and all but seal their place in the last eight, they were instead taken off their game-plan from the get-go by a determined Bilbao side who blitzed Madrid 34-14 after the first ten minutes, missing only one field goal.
Bilbao held Jaycee Caroll to just eight points as he was frozen out of the contest. Real were led by 18 points from Nikola Mirotic.
The hosts had a host of star performers on a night where they shot an incredible 73% from the field. Kostas Vasiliadis drained five triples on his way to a game-high 19 points, Alex Mumbru hit 16 and Aaron Jackson secured a double-double of 15 points and 10 assists.
“It was an awesome game from the first second,” Bilbao coach Fotios Katsikaris said. “We played an amazing first quarter, from our defense. Our game was so good and we played so aggressive. Everyone was so good today, physically and mentally.”
Bilbao can advance to the last eight if they beat Montepaschi Siena at home next week and Real Madrid lose to Unicaja.
Montepaschi, on the other-side need just one more win to advance from Group F after they defeated Unicaja Malaga 84-69 in Italy to improve to 4-0.
A fourth quarter 12-1 run from the Italians secured victory in what was an otherwise tightly-contested affair. Bo McCalebb led the victors with 18 points.
“We are happy because we were worried about this game,” Siena coach Simone Pianigiani said. “We knew Malaga has a long bench with talented and scoring players and we expected them to start playing sooner or later.
“In the first half they played the way they know, but in the second one we played better basketball.”
Unicaja now slip to 0-4 and are out of the Euroleague. Luka Zoric was the only Malaga player in double-digits, as he hit 14 points.
Anadolu Efes held Vassilis Spanoulis to just eight points but lost their nerve when it mattered, as Olympiacos won in Turkey 67-65.
This win moves the Greeks into second place in Group E but the win was sealed in the final 10 seconds. Sasha Vujacic tied the game with 16 seconds remaining with a triple, but the hosts stupidly fouled with time winding down. Kostas Sloukas hit both foul shots – and despite the best efforts of Oliver Lafayette, who led Efes with 22 – his winning attempt on the buzzer missed.
Olympiacos were led by the duo of Kostas Papanikolaou and Georgios Printezis, who both hit 16 points each, as the Reds now improve to 2-2 while at the same time, condemned Efes to 1-3 with two games left.
Unics Kazan slipped to their first defeat in the Top 16 after they handed EA7 Milano its first win of the round 63-58 in the fashion capital.
The Russians need to win just one more game to advance while Milano need to win their remaining two.
Antonis Fotis led the winners with 16 points, while Henry Domercant, Nathan Jawai and Vladimir Veremeenko all had 11 for Unics.
