As the Euroleague qualifier round concluded, Anadolu Efes sat in third place in their group with a 5-5 record. As the Top 16 began, they lost their first contest with CSKA Moscow, 90:71, and it wouldn’t be difficult to have written them off at that time. From that point though, the Turkish club has been perfect, clipping off seven straight Top 16 games including a 63:60 win over CSKA Moscow, the team that defeated them in Week 1. The win keeps Efes tied with Real Madrid for the No. 1 spot in Group E. Over in Madrid, the top club in the group was put to the test by Alba Berlin, but was able to hold on and stay with Efes at 7-1. In Group F Khimki turned in the third victory of over 30 points with an 87:54 win over winless Besiktas and Olympiacos moved up a spot in the standings with an 82:74 decision over Caja Laboral.

Group E
Anadolu Efes – CSKA Moscow, 63:60
Anadolu Efes picked up their seventh straight win by coming from behind to beat CSKA Moscow 63:60. The loss drops CSKA to 5-3, two games behind Real Madrid and Efes and the Efes win, along with Real Madrid’s victory of Alba Berlin, keep the two clubs locked up at the top of the group at 7-1. The two don’t play each other again until Week 14.

CSKA was able to build a 10-point advantage in the first off a 0:9 run late in the frame and as the horn sounded on the first 10, CSKA was up by six at 16:22. CSKA got the first four of the second quarter, then Efes ran off six to pull within four, 22:26. From there the guests outscored Efes 4:8 to push the gap up to eight at the half, 26:34. Efes hit the first four of the second half to cut the margin to four, then the clubs exchanged baskets for the better part of the third quarter. Efes then pulled to within one, 37:38, off a three-point play by Dusko Savanovic. CSKA got the next four to open the gap to five, which is where the quarter ended at, 41:46. The hosts were able to close the gap over the first few minutes of the fourth and got their first lead with a jumper by Jamon Lucas to go up 52:51. The lead changed hands four times over the next two minutes as the clubs exchanged triples. Efes got up 59:58 with a three-ball by Jordan Farmer, then connected on a pair of singles to get up by three. CSKA playmaker Milos Teodosic dropped in a pair of free throws to cut their deficit to one with 7.5 seconds to play. CSKA only needed a second to foul Farmar on the inbounds play to get him back to the line, which he sank both. CSKA got the ball back with just over six seconds to play and got two shots off, but came up empty with both, giving Efes their seventh straight Top 16 win.

Farmar led the way for Efes with 15 points, Lucas added 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Semih Erden contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds. Teodosic was game-high with 26 points for CSKA, and Sash Kaun dropped in 12 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

Real Madrid – Alba Berlin, 77:72
Real Madrid stayed at the top of Group E with a hard fought 77:72 win over Alba Berlin at home. Alba held a lead early in the fourth quarter, then after falling behind by 10 they were able to pull to within three, 75:72, but ran out of time on their upset attempt. The loss drops Alba to 1-7 on the round.

Madrid opened the contest getting up 10:2, but Alba was able to counter and pull to within three at 12:9. By the end of the first 10 Madrid was up 20:14. In the second Alba pulled the margin closer, but then the hosts extended their lead to 11, 34:23. Alba then countered with a 0:10 run to cut the gap to one, 34:33, which is where the score sat at the break. Alba got the first two of the second half to earn their first lead of the contest. By the time Madrid scored again over five minutes had elapsed between time in the second and the third and Alba had scored 14 unanswered. The clubs spent the quarter exchanging the lead, with Derrick Byars dropping in a jumper at the buzzer to give Alba a two-point lead, 50:48. After trading the lead for the first two minutes of the fourth, Madrid was able to get up 10. Alba wasn’t done though and mounted a comeback that got them to 75:72 with 34 seconds left. Madrid worked the ball around until Fernandez was hit on a cut to the hoop and was fouled, he hit the two singles with 16 seconds to play and gave Madrid enough to hold off the challenge and improve their record to 7-1.

Jaycee Carroll was game-high for Madrid with 16, Fernandez added 14, Nikola Mirotic contributed 12 points and 7 rebounds. Deon Thompson paced Alba with 14 points and 7 rebounds, and Dashaun Wood and Yassin Idbihi dropped in 11 each. Idbihi also grabbed 9 rebounds.

Group F
Olympiacos Piraeus – Caja Laboral. 82:74
The defending Euroleague champions bumped their Top 16 record to 5-3 with a sound defeat of Caja Laboral Vitoria on Friday. The win keeps Olympiacos tied for third in Group F with Khimki, while the loss drops Caja to 4-4 and in fifth place.

Other than a 2:2 tie early on, Olympiacos never trailed in this match-up that had a high difference of 20 deep in the fourth quarter. Last years Final Four champs built a seven point advantage, 18:11, in the first, while extending that to 14, 41:27 at the half. The hosts were up 62:50 after three and had extended to 18 in the fourth before Caja started coming back, only to run out of time.

By cutting their deficit in the match to eight, Caja salvaged the tie-break as they held an eight point advantage from the first contest. The eight-point margin in this contest, along with the two teams splitting their two games, and with both games being the exact same score, means that the tie-break is currently tied. The next tie break between the two teams will be the goal average for all the games each team plays, so that will not be able to be determined until after Week 14.

Acie Law led Olympiacos with 18 points, and Georgios Printezis added 11 points and six rebounds. Thomas Heurtel paced Caja Laboral with 16 points and 9 assists. Fabien Causeur added 15 points, and the duo of Nemanja Bjelica (8 rebounds) and Maciej Lampe dropped in 12 each.

BC Khimki MR – Besiktas JK, 87:56
Khimki improved their Top 16 record to 5-3 with a huge win over winless Besiktas on Friday. The win was Khimki’s seventh home win in this seasons Euroleague competition, crossing both the regular season and Top 16.

Early in the first quarter the clubs played to a 9:9 tie, which was the last time Besiktas was close as by the time the first frame was over Khimki held a 16:11 advantage. As the second 10 started the hosts ran off seven straight to push their lead to 12 and by the end of the first half the hosts were up 38:27. Khimki took total control in the second half getting up by as much as 22 in the third and then pouring it on in the fourth to pull out the 87:56 victory.

The hosts were led by Paul Davis’ 18, Kelvin Rivers added 14, and Kresimir Loncar and Alexey Zhukanenko dropped in 10 each. Serhat Cetin and Cemal Nalga paced Besiktas with 10 points each.

Euroleague Group E

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Euroleague Group F

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