Galatasaray ended CSKA Moscow’s 13-game unbeaten run by winning 68-64 in-front of a sell-out crowd in Istanbul.
The Turks, who had to qualify to even be in this season’s Euroleague found themselves on the back-end of an 11-0 run, but they hit back in the third quarter with a 16-5 run which put Galatasaray back ahead at 51-50.
Leading 55-54 after the third, CSKA looked to bully their way back into contention, but the hosts got a second wind, and hit their shots down the stretch to claim a famous victory.
Josh Shipp paced the victors with 22 points, supported by Luksa Andric’s 16, as they move to 2-2 in Group E. CSKA drop to 3-1 but should still advance. They were led by 11 points from Sasha Kaun and Ramunas Siskauskas.
On the floor where he won Eurobasket MVP, Juan Carlos Navarro led Barcelona with 18 points, as his side saw-off a short-handed Zalgiris 67-58 in freezing Kaunas.
Trailing 32-30 at half-time, Barca came out strong, thanks to Navarro and his five points in quick succession gave the Spaniards a 37-34 lead and they never looked back, improving to 4-0 in Group H and condemning Zalgiris, who were without Sonny Weems and Marko Popovic to elimination as they slump to 0-4.
Speaking through a translator, Navarro said: “We struggled to get into the game, but I think it is a very important victory. I really liked playing in this arena again.”
Panthiniaikos comfortably defeated Fenerbahce 72-62 in Athens thanks to 21 points from Kostas Tsartsaris, starting for the injured Steve Smith as they move to 3-1 in Group G.
Leading 24-13 after the first, the Greeks were always comfortable and got the Turks into early foul trouble so that Fenerbahce couldn’t get into any real rhythm on the court.
Bojan Bogdanovic got 15 points for Fenerbahce.
Maccabi Electra comfortably defeated Bennet Cantu 75-60 to get a measure of revenge on the Italians from last week.
David Blu led Maccabi with 14 points as both sides now have 2-2 records in Group H.
