Euroleague: FC Barcelona Regal stands alone

‘And then there was one…’ On the most busy day of the 2012-13 Euroleague schedule, the fans couldn’t have been treated to a better day of basketball. Five games were decided by a grand total of nine points; one of the games had a ‘didn’t beat the buzzer, but beat the light’ shot that turned out to be a game winner; two undefeated squads were upset, Maccabi on their home court…; FC Barcelona Regal not only picked up their sixth win and remained the only undefeated team on the season, they also clinched a spot in the top 16 with their win. All-in-all it was a wild one on the hardwood Thursday, just like basketball diehards like it.

Group A
[standings league_id=7 group=A]
BC Khimki MR – Fenerbahce Ulker, 71:70
No group was shaken up more on Tuesday than Group A with Khimki snatching a win literally after the buzzer and with Real Madrid dropping their second contest on the season. The hosts built a substantial advantage by halftime, going up 39:29. Fenerbahce cut the gap to five after the third and had a one-point margin and the ball with nine clicks to play. Khimki got the ball in bounds from under the Ulker basket, got it down the court and got a three-pointer off with just under three seconds left. The shot missed, was tipped twice and fell into the hands of KC Rivers standing in the paint. He was able to catch-and-release, but as video shows, the clock on the top of the basket shows no time remaining and you can hear the buzzer go off a split second before he releases the ball. As he releases it, you then can see the LED that surrounds the basket light up, then the ball falls through the net. The rules state that the LED takes precedence over all other devices for signifying the end of the period and since the LED lit up after the ball was out of Rivers’ hands, the basket stood and Khimki earned well-deserved victory at home. The win ties them with Real Madrid at 4-2 at the top of Group A, the loss drops Fenerbahce to 3-3 and in a tie for third.
Top Scorers:
BC Khimki MR: Kelvin Rivers 15; Vitaly Fridzon 12; Zoran Planinic 11.
Fenerbahce Ulker: David Andersen 17; Baris Ermis 11; Bojan Bogdanovic 11.

Union Olimpija – Mapooro Cantu, 81:79
Both Union Olimpija and Mapooro Cantu are sitting at the bottom of Group A, but at 2-4 they are only one game out of qualifying for the Top 16 and only two games out of first place. Union came into this contest with a four-game losing streak and with both of their wins coming against Cantu, they will win any potential tiebreaker the two might have should there be one to advance to the next round. The two teams spent the game taking turns dropping in 17 points, while the other added 22, 23 or 25. Cantu got out to the early lead, 17:22, but the hosts took the lead going into the half with a 25:17 score to get up by three, 42:39. Cantu took the lead heading into the final 10 with a 17:23 third quarter tally and a 59:62 margin. The final frame saw the visitors build a six-point lead, only to have Union knot things at 70 with just over five minutes to play. The squads exchanged the lead for a few minutes then Union jumped up by four, 79:75, on a trey by Dylan Page. Jeff Brooks and Pietro Aradoir countered for Cantu on consecutive trips down the floor to tie things at 79 with 33 seconds left. Union’s Jaka Blazic was fouled with 20.4 seconds to play, dropped in his two singles to put the home squad up by two and Cantu missed two opportunities to tie the game, but came up short.
Top Scorers:
Union Olimpija: Jaka Blazic 30; Dylan Page 14; Aron Baynes 13; Klemen Prepelic 13.
Mapooro Cantu: Pietro Aradori 20; Manuchar Markoishvili 15; Maarten Leunen 11.

Panathinaikos Athens – Real Madrid, 79:68
Panathinaikos used an 11:0 run midway through the second quarter enroute to a 30:19 score in the frame to set up a crucial home win. The victory moves the Athens contingent into a tie for third place in Group A with Fenerbahce, but it also puts Athens in a position to win any potential tie-breakers with Madrid due to point differentials. Madrid stays at the top of the group in a tie with Khimki with four weeks to play.
Top Scorers:
Panathinaikos Athens: Stephane Lasme 15; Andy Panko 14; Jona Maciulis 12; Roko Ukic 11.
Real Madrid: Carlos Suarez 16.

Group B
[standings league_id=7 group=B]
Asseco Prokom Gdynia – Elan Chalon, 70:76
Elan Chalon stayed in the hunt for a spot in the Top 16 with an important come-from-behind road win. The loss keeps Asseco Prokom at the bottom of Group B with a 1-5 mark, the win puts Chalon in a tie for fourth place with Alba Berlin, each with 2-4 records.
Top Scorers:
Asseco Prokom Gdynia: Adam Krycaniuk 17; Lukasz Koszarek 14; Jerel Blassingame 12; Frank Robinson 11.
Elan Chalon: Brion Rush 18; Blake Schilb 15; Ilian Evtimov 13.

Maccabi Electra – Unicaja Malaga, 62:64
Unicaja earned a tie for a spot on top of Group B with an impressive win on Maccabi’s home court. The win is a fifth in a row for Unicaja, who dropped a five-point decision to Tel Aviv the first week of the season, 80:85. This was a tight contest for a solid 40 minutes, with lead exchanges and neither team getting out front by more than seven and never for very long. Unicaja held a six point margin with just over three minutes to play, but four free throws off an unsportsmanlike foul cut the gap to two. David Logan dropped in two singles to put the hosts up by one with a minute to play only to have Marcus Williams counter immediately to regain the lead for Unicaja. Shortly after, Williams was fouled and connected on one of the two charity tosses to put the visitors up by two with just under a minute left. Maccabi got off two shots and had another blocked in the final seconds of the game as the Unicaja defense came up big to preserve the win streak and a move into a co-top spot with Maccabi with a mutual 5-1 record.
Top Scorers:
Maccabi Electra: Shawn James 14; Ricky Hickman 13; Malcolm Thomas 11.
Unicaja Malaga: Marcus Williams 12; Zoran Dragic 10.

Alba Berlin vs. Montepaschi Siena, 73:75
Montepaschi Siena out ran a charging Alba Berlin in a key Group B contest that has these two squads fighting for the the last two seats from their group in the Top 16. With Maccabi Tel Aviv and Unicaja Malaga sitting alone at 5-1 and Siena now at 3-3, the scramble looks like it’s going to be between Siena, Alba and Elan. In this game Siena took control in the second half with a 4:13 run that got them a 14-point advantage with five minute to play in the quarter. Alba then got seven unanswered of their own to cut the gap, by the end of the quarter they were still down by eight, 52:60. The hosts opened the final 10 with two deuces, a three-ball, and a dunk to take a one-point advantage mid-way through, at 61:60. They exchanged baskets and with less than two minutes to play Dashaun Wood found an opening and dropped in a lay-up to push Alba up by three, 73:70. Siena’s Tomas Ress knotted the game at 75 with 1:40 left. Neither squad could connect until Daniel Hackett put the visitors up by two with a jumper at the 14 seconds to play mark. Alba used two time outs to sketch out a play, but Wood lost the handle on the ball on his way to the basket. Alba’s Zach Morley recovered and got a shot off, but it went wide, giving Montepaschi the heart-stopper of a win on the road and a 3-3 record with four games to play.
Top Scorers:
Alba Berlin: Deon Thompson 20; Vule Avdalovic 13; Yassin Idbihi 12; Nihad Djedovic 10 (10 rebounds).
Montepaschi Siena: Bobby Brown 21; Daniel Hackett 12.

Group C
[standings league_id=7 group=C]
Cedevita Zagreb – Zalgiris Kaunas, 108:106
Coming into Thursday’s contest Zalgiris Kaunas was sitting on a five-game win streak in Euroleague 2012-13 competition, which translated into a 5-0 record and the top spot in Group C. They only needed to win their road match against 1-4 Cedevita Zagreb to accomplish that task and with history on their side, they beat the Croatians 90:62 at home in the first game of the season, the Lithuanian squad had to have been incredibly confident in their chances. In the preview of Thursday’s contest practically everything listed was stacked against Cedevita: Zalgiris averages 12.6 more points per contest; they have a higher team field goal, free throw and 3-point shooting average; they average more rebounds; they average fewer turnovers; and of course, there are the records, Cedevita came in 1-4, Zalgiris came in 5-0. This game was in Croatia though and Cedevita was coming off their first ever Euroleague victory, having downed Caja Laboral Vitoria last week. An estimated 3,500 filed into Cedevita’s home arena to witness their locals take on the squad looking down on them from on top of the Group.

Zalgiris got out to an early lead and things started looking like the prior game, but the hosts came back in the second quarter and cut the gap to one, 39:40 at the half. Cedevita picked up a three point advantage in the third, to head into the last quarter with the scoreboard showing the hosts on the high side of a 63:60 tally. Zalgiris countered the three-point advantage in the fourth by taking control and building a lead, only to have Cedevita pull off a come-from-behind effort to send the game into overtime. The first ended with another Cedevita near-miracle as they were down by four with under a minute to play. Vlado Ilievski dropped in a three-pointer to pull the hosts to within one; M. Popovic split a pair of singles for Zalgiris to push the lead to two and off a missed last second attempt at the win, Cedevita’s Mickael Gelabale grabbed the rebound and dunked it to send the contest into the second overtime. The last five was a continuation of the thriller the Pionir crowd had already seen as the clubs exchanged the lead number of times, but the length of the contest caused havoc on the lineups as each team was starting to lose men to fouls. The two squads shot 65 free throws between them in the 50 minutes of total playing time. Cedevita used two of those charity tosses to close out the scoring, while Zalgiris had another shot to tie, but it fell short giving the hosts a big win at home.
Top Scorers:
Cedevita Zagreb: Mickael Gelabale 23; Bracey Wright 20; Predrag Suput 18; Vlado Ilievski 16.
Zalgiris Kaunas: Darjus Lavrinovic 24; Marko Popovic 19;Rimantas Kaukenas 15; Tremmell Darden 10.

Group D
[standings league_id=7 group=D]
Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius – CSKA Moscow, 62:71
CSKA improved to 5-1 on the year and one step closer to a Top 16 spot with a road win over Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, 62:71. The difference was was the third frame where Moscow outscored Rytas 14:20 to expand on a one-point halftime lead to head into the final stanza up by seven. Lietuvos drops to 1-5 on the year with the loss and tied with Partizan for the cellar of Group D.
Top Scorers:
Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius: Leon Radosevic 17; Mindaugas Katelynas 13; Renaldas Seibutis 11.
CSKA Moscow: Sonney Weems 19; Milos Teodosic 13; Sasha Kaun 11.

Brose Baskets – FC Barcelona Regal, 66:86
FC Barcelona Regal now stands alone in the ranks of the unblemished records with a decisive 20-point victory on the road against Brose Baskets Bamberg. The squads played to a five-point Regal lead at the intermission, 42:47, but Barcelona kept the pressure on and added to their margin each quarter to preserve their six game Euroleague 2012-13 season winning streak. Brose drops to 2-4 and in a fight for the last two Top 16 seats from Group D with Besiktas at 3-3, Partizan and Lietuvos, both at 1-5.
Top Scorers:
Brose Baskets: Bostjan Nachbar 18; Sergerio Gipson 12; Anton Gavel 11.
FC Barcelona Regal: Pete Mickeal 17; Erazem Lorbek 14; Juan Carlos Navarro 13.

Partizan mt:s Belgrade – Besiktas JK, 87:72
Partizan, coming off a loss to Red Star, needed a win at the Pionir Arena and their 6,500 fans that packed in got the win they needed as the black and white picked up their first 2012-13 Euroleague win over Besiktas JK, 87:72. The first three quarters were tight, with Partizan holding a five-point margin heading into the final quarter, 70:65. The hosts took control in the fourth and added 10 to their margin to nail down their celebration and win, which keeps them alive in the hunt for a seat at the Top 16. The win improves Partizan’s record to 1-5, which they share with Lietuvos. Besiktas drops to 3-3 with the loss, but holds on the third place in Group D.
Top Scorers:
Partizan mt:s Belgrade: Dragan Milosavljevic 16; Vladimir Lucic 14; Dejan Musli 14; Leo Westermann 13; Drew Gordon 13.
Besiktas JK: Curtis Jerrells 20; Damir Markota 16.