Jayson Granger’s buzzer beating game winner secured Unicaja Malaga’s passage into the Euroleague Top 16 from Group C after they beat Montepaschi Siena 74-72 in Florence.
The win not only seals the Liga Endesa side’s place but also Bayern Munich’s as well. Montepaschi Siena: a Euroleague powerhouse in recent years will play the rest of their European season in the Eurocup.
Nik Caner Medley led Malaga with 20 points but it was Granger that stole the headlines as his wild one-handed bank shot went straight in, leaving the Siena fans heartbroken.
Despite the defeat, Malaga coach Joan Plaza was full of praise for the Italian side.
“Congratulations to Siena for the beautiful game and executions they did,” he said. “They knew that the game would be fought point by point, like in the first leg. It was the most difficult group of the regular season.”
Othello Hunter and Josh Carter led Siena with 14 points each.
The other game in Group C saw Olympiacos finish the regular season 10-0 after they beat Eurocup-bound Stelmet Zielona Gora 91-80 in Poland.
While the Euroleague holders move on, the European adventure continues for the Poles, who were predicted by many to go 0-10 in the group. They end their first season in the Euroleague with a 2-8 record.
Stratos Perperoglou scored 12 points in a key second quarter for the visitors to ease clear. Despite their best efforts, the hosts were not able to end the Reds’ streak of wins.
Perperoglou had 23 points to lead Olympiacos.
In Group A, Partizan qualified for the Top 16 despite losing 73-62 to CSKA Moscow in Belgrade.
Sasha Kaun had 12 points for CSKA.
Fenerbahce did the Serbian champions a favour by beating Nanterre 95-76 to condemn the French side to the Eurocup Round of 32.
Bojan Bogdanovic led all scorers in victory for the Turkish side with 20 points.
The other Group A game saw Barcelona beat Budivielnik Kiev 96-77 in what was a dead rubber contest, as both teams knew their fate before the game.
Maciej Lampe scored 16 points to lead Barca as six players registered double figure scoring for the Catalan giants.
DaJuan Summers had 17 points to lead Kiev as they finish their European season in the Eurocup.
The other games in the final round of Euroleague regular season action saw Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv finish top of Group D with a 68-55 thumping of Panathinaikos in Athens.
David Blu paced the winners with 13 points but both sides were already through.
Zalgiris advanced to the Top 16 after a tense 84-80 win in Bamberg against Brose Baskets.
Justin Dentmon led all scorers with 26 points as the Lithuanian champions charged forward to kill the game off with a 22-2 run in the final period.
Bamberg will play the rest of their European season in the Eurocup.
Favourites Real Madrid were the second team through to the Top 16 with a perfect 10-0 record after they thumped Anadolu Efes 86-61 in Istanbul.
Anadolu Efes though advanced to the Top 16 due to the Zalgiris win.
Six three-pointers out of six attempted from Sergio Rodriguez made him the game’s leading scorer with 24.
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