Real suffer shock defeat in Euroleague
ByReuters
Published 06/02/2016 at 00:53 GMT
Holders Real Madrid were left with a mountain to climb to reach the Euroleague knockout stages after losing 77-68 at home to fellow Spaniards Laboral Kutxa Vitoria on Friday in the continent's premier club basketball competition.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Fenerbahce Istanbul stretched their unbeaten run in the second group stage to six games with a 77-73 win at cross-town rivals Anadolu Efes thanks to 15 points apiece from forward Ekpe Udoh and shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Vitoria's Fabien Causer netted 15 points and Jaka Blazic added 13 to keep their hopes alive of reaching the quarter-finals. Real, who won a record-extending ninth title last season, have now won three and lost three in their group.
The second group stage features two pools of eight teams, with the top four from each section advancing to the best-of-five quarterfinal playoff series. The winners qualify for the May 13-15 Final Four in Berlin.
"The three-point shooting streak allowed them to get the lead and they played with a lot of confidence," Real coach Pablo Laso told www.euroleague.net.
"We missed some open shots and couldn't match their toughness as they were really aggressive."
Barcelona are in even deeper trouble in their section with two wins and four defeats. They lost 74-70 at Germans Brose Baskets Bamberg on Thursday with Janis Strelnieks scoring 16 points and Darius Miller adding 15.
The Catalan giants netted only six three-pointers from 22 attempts and committed 11 turnovers.
Six-time winners CSKA Moscow routed Lithuanians Zalgiris Kaunas 94-59, helped by 20 points from Serbia playmaker Milos Teodosic, while Olympiakos Piraeus, who won successive titles in 2012 and 2013, beat Khimki Moscow 89-77.
Georgios Printezis had 30 points and nine rebounds for the Greek outfit, who clawed back into contention for a playoff berth.
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