Olympiacos recorded a comfortable 72-54 win over Galatasaray at the Peace and Friendship Stadium to all but secure top spot in Group C of the Euroleague. Unfortunately, the actions of the fourth quarter were nothing like the arena’s name.
A fight that broke out in the final quarter between Olympiacos’ Mirza Begic and Galatasaray’s Pops Mensah-Bonsu overshadowed the game completely leaving the two mentioned players plus Georgios Printezis were all ejected from the game.
The scrap broke out with Olympiacos in firm control, leading 70-44. The Euroleague have yet to comment on the issue but suspensions are likely to be enforced.
Bryant Dunston led the Reds in the win with 18 points, supported by Vassilis Spanoulis with 12.
The other Group C game saw Unicaja Malaga secure an important away win at Stelmet Zielona Gora.
Zoran Dragic led Malaga with 21 points as they go to 3-4 in the group while the Polish champions drop to 2-5. This is Malaga’s second win over Stelmet, which secures the head-to-head meaning that that the Poles are on the verge of being eliminated.
“It was tough game for us,” said Dragic. “We were playing well until the second quarter. Then we started to play worse and our rivals took the possibility to gain something, but finally we mastered our emotions and played aggressively again.”
Przemyslaw Zamojski led Stelmet with 21.
In Group D, Lokomotiv Kuban secured their spot in the Top 16 with a comfortable 84-53 win away to Lietuvos Rytas.
Trailing 24-16 after one, the Russians put the game beyond the Vilnius side’s reach in the second and third quarters as they established a 61-40 lead going into the final period, holding the hosts to just 16 points in 20 minutes.
“Lietuvos Rytas scored only 27 points during the three last quarters; our defence was the key to success,” Lokomotiv coach Evgeny Pashutin said.
Derrick Brown led Kuban with 20 points as they move to 6-1. Renaldas Seibutis paced the Lithuanian giants with 15.
The other Group D game saw Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv leave Belgrade with a ‘get out of jail’ victory over Red Star after seeing their 18-point lead slip away.
David Blu hit two vital free throws with 11 seconds remaining to pick up the win and spare the Israeli blushes.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis rose to the occasion in the absence of Shawn james with 22 points for the winners as they move to 5-2.
Free throws from Trent Meacham with 5.9 seconds left gave Nanterre hope of a surprise Top 16 appearance as they beat Partizan 62-61.
The French move to 3-4 while Partizan are all but out on 1-6.
Meacham led Nanterre with 14.
In Group B, Real Madrid remained unbeaten with an 89-69 win over Brose Baskets.
Nikola Mirotic had 20 for the visitors
