It needed overtime but Real Madrid bested CSKA Moscow 86-78 in the Spanish capital to stand as the only unbeaten side in the Euroleague Top 16.
The Whites inflicted a second straight defeat on CSKA as they drop to 4-2 while the Spanish side is now 6-0 in Group E.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair throughout, and in the dying seconds of regulation, the visitors had a shot to win it but Milos Teodosic’s three-pointer missed its target. From there, Real Madrid got the better of their Russian counterparts in a high-scoring extra period, winning it 20-15.
Jaycee Carroll led all scorers with 31 points for the victors which included six three-pointers while Rudy Fernandez hit 20 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, a personal best for him. Zoran Erceg and Teodosic both led a balanced CSKA Moscow scoring attack with 13.
“We are learning how to play different kinds of games, different styles,” Carroll said afterwards.
“Today, we tried to run and play fast, but we could not the whole game. The good point is that we could change our system and in this context we got the game. In extra time we were aggressive, but at the same time we were clever to pass the ball. It was a very funny game. I enjoyed playing it a lot.”
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Montepaschi Siena’s unbeaten run in the Top 16 is over as they were comprehensively beaten 85-66 at Barcelona.
The Catalan side were in no mood to get caught up in a battle as they quickly disposed of Siena, building up a 48-29 lead at half-time and going from strength to strength from there.
Ante Tomic led all scorers for the hosts with 20 points as Barca improves to 5-1 in Group F which is the same record for Montepaschi Siena, who were led by Bobby Brown’s 19.
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Reigning champions Olympiacos defeated Fenerbahce 82-71 to go to 3-3 in Group F.
This loss puts the Istanbul side deeper in trouble with a 1-5 record.
Vassilis Spanoulis led the victors with 15 points while Bo McCalebb led all scorers in vain with 20 points. The latter also played all 40 minutes.
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A 26-9 third quarter helped Zalgiris to a comfortable 92-56 win over Alba Berlin in Kaunas.
22 points from Marko Popovic snapped the Lithuanian’s two-game losing streak as they improve to 2-4 in Group E while the Germans fall further to 1-5; they were led by Yassin Idbihi, who hit 12 points.
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Maccabi Electra comfortably saw-off Besiktas 77-55 in Istanbul as an 18-0 burst spanning the first and second quarters got the job done.
Lior Eliyahu led the Israeli champions with 14 points and five rebounds as they move to 2-4. Serhat Cretin led Besiktas with 13 as they fall to 0-6 in Group F.
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