Euroleague Top 16, Unicaja Malaga wins

Round 6 of the Euroleague Top 16 wrapped on Friday with four games. The previous day’s action brought a huge clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona, while CSKA Moscow was handed its first loss of the competition. Friday had a lot to live up to, but there was plenty of big talking points through the evening.

Chief among those was a first win for Unicaja Malaga in this season’s Euroleague Top 16, the Spanish club overcoming Nizhny Novgorod at home. Anadolu Efes continued to plot its course to the next round with a road win over EA7 Armani Milan, while Fenerbahce edged a thriller against Laboral Kutxa Vitoria in Istanbul. Completing the action were ALBA Berlin and Panathinaikos, with the Greek giant grabbing victory.

Group E
There was just one game in Group E on Friday after the busy schedule the day before. In that game, ALBA Berlin hosted Panathinaikos Athens in the German capital, but it was the Greek team celebrating after a 59-65 home win. A ten minute span over the third and fourth quarter proved disastrous for ALBA as they scored just four points, all from the charity strip, while Panathinaikos plundered 20 points. The victory gave The Greens sole possession of third place in Group E with a 4-2 record behind leaders Real Madrid and Maccabi Tel Aviv. ALBA Berlin slipped to 2-4 in the standings, but the club still has plenty to play for.

Group F
Time was running out for Unicaja Malaga if the club wanted to progress from the Top 16. The club sits atop the Spanish league, but has struggled for form in Europe and sat winless so far in this phase. However, Unicaja finally found a winning vein and defeated Nizhny Novgorod 85-76 on the Spanish south coast. The hosts shot 84.2% from the charity strip on the way to victory, while Jayson Granger was in formidable attacking form with 29 points and 5 assists for Malaga. The winners improved to 1-5, but still props up the table, while Nizhny drops to 2-4 after two consecutive losses.

EA7 Armani Milan continued to struggle in the Euroleague Top 16 this season as the Italian club dropped to 1-5 after a home loss to Anadolu Efes Istanbul. The Turkish team moved to 4-2, the same score as compatriot Fenerbahce, setting up nicely for next week’s Istanbul derby game. The teams traded buckets and the lead for much of the contest, but Efes finally got a foothold in the fourth quarter and kept the lead until the end of regulation. Stratos Perperoglou paced the winning effort with 18 points, while MarShon Brooks and Daniel Hackett matched that haul for the beaten Milan.

Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul edged Laboral Kutxa Vitoria 91-90 after a thrilling high octane encounter. Both teams broke 20 points through each quarter (20-21, 25-22, 26-22, and 20-25), but it was Fenerbahce that emerged with the win in front of its home fans.