Olympiacos beat Bayern Munich 105-103 on the road to remain unbeaten in Group C of the Euroleague.
Heiko Schaffartzik had a chance to win it for the Germans at the Audi Dome attempted three at the buzzer went off the front of the rim and out. It dropped them to 3-5 and kept Olympiacos, who were without Mirza Begic due to suspension undefeated.
“It was a great team in a fantastic atmosphere,” Olympiacos coach Georgios Bartzokas said. “We had to play very seriously for our fans, for the club and for the Euroleague. We want to win until the very end, and we will play hard until the end of the Regular Season. We had some problems with our big men. We had to make a good team effort. I have to say congratulations to the guys. We were serious.”
Stratos Perperoglou led the Reds with 25 points with Vassilis Spanoulis adding 24. Malcolm Delaney led Bayern with 22 as they drop to 3-5.
The other games in Group C saw Galatasaray beat Unicaja Malaga 78-70 to advance to the Top 16.
Without the services of Pops Mensah-Bonsu, the Turkish side relied on Carlos Arroyo to steer them to the next round as he poured in 22 points.
Carlos Suarez led Malaga with 16 points as they fall to 3-5. There’s still hope for the Liga Endesa side, but it will be an uphill battle for qualification.
Erick Green led Montepaschi Siena to a narrow 60-59 win over Stelmet Zielona Gora at the Nelson Mandela Forum in Florence.
On a night where all of the world’s attention was solely on Mandela himself as he died peacefully in his sleep back home in South Africa, the Italians made sure the arena staff celebrated a home win in his memory.
Green led Siena with 13 points as go to 3-5 and after a 0-4 start now have a shot of getting to the Top 16. Despite green’s showing, it was Jeff Viggiano who became the hero as he nailed a three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left for the win.
Vladimir Dragicevic led Zielona Gora with 20 points.
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv have taken top spot in Group D after edging Lokomotiv Kuban 85-83 at the Nokia Arena.
Both teams have 6-2 record in the group but Maccabi takes top spot by virtue of the head-to-head they have over Lokomotiv having beaten them twice.
“It was an excellent game with two good teams that fought and gave everything they had,” Maccabi coach David Blatt said. “In a different situation, you might consider fouling on the final play, but I usually don’t. It was impossible to organise it because the ball was live. When we were down six, the game looked lost, but a few great plays with threes by Blu and Pnini and we were back in the game. “
Sofo Schortsanitis led Maccabi with 15 points.
The other games in the group saw a win for Partizan as they downed Budivielnik Kiev 76-61.
Both teams are near enough eliminated from group play but the Serbian champions put up a fight as they go to 2-6 in Group A while Kiev falls to 1-7 and could be eliminated if Nanterre beat Barcelona.
Bogdan Bogdanovic paced the winners with 15 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals.
A buzzer beating three-pointer from Louis Campbell handed Strasbourg a 77-76 win over Zalgiris in Group B.
The French side move to 2-6 while Zalgiris drop to 3-5. Ricaro Greer led Strasbourg to victory with 16 points.
Real Madrid went to 8-0 as they edged EA7 Milano 78-71 in the fashion capital.
Rudy Fernandez led the winners with 16 points as they continue their road to be back in Milan for the Final Four next May.
