Six games are in the books from Tuesday and Thursday's fixtures
Game Center: Round 25 concludes with road wins for Virtus, PAO; Zvezda, Baskonia triumph at home
Članak
8 Min čitanja
Friday, January 30
AS Monaco 82-84 Virtus Bologna
Virtus overcame the absences of Carsen Edwards and Alessandro Pajola to come back from a double-digit deficit and stun Monaco 82-84 on Friday night in the Principality. Virtus improved to 12-13 on the season, while Monaco lost its third straight game to drop to a 15-10 record.
Virtus trailed by 10 points at the start of the third quarter, only to erase the deficit before the end of the period behind big men Nicola Akele and Aliou Diarra, before using a 1-15 run to open the fourth quarter and escape to a 66-77 lead. The home team rallied and took the lead on a three-pointer by Mike James, 82-81, but Luca Vildoza nailed a triple with 4 seconds left to give Virtus the win and a season sweep over Monaco.
Derrick Alston paced Virtus with 19 points, Matt Morgan netted 15, while Vildoza finished with 13 points. Mike James led Monaco with 17 points and 9 assists, and Jaron Blossomgame scored 14 in defeat.
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade 95-92 Dubai Basketball
Crvena Zvezda made it four wins in a row with an ultimately comfortable 95-92 home defeat of Dubai. Sasa Obradovic's side set club records for points scored and largest first-quarter margin by romping to a 34-14 lead in the opening 10 minutes. Dubai fought back valiantly and slashed the deficit to 59-58 in the third quarter, but Zvezda had more firepower in the home stretch and prevailed to delight its noisy fans inside Belgrade Arena. Zvezda improved to 15-10 while Dubai dropped to 11-14.
Jordan Nwora paced Zvezda on 22 points and Ebuke Izundu added 18, while the backcourt duo of Jared Butler and Codi Miller-McIntyre chipped in with 16 each as Zvezda relied on its usual suspects on offense. At the other end, Mfiondu Kabengele capped a monster individual performance with 24 points and 8 boards, Dwayne Bacon scored 19 and McKinley Wright netted 16.
Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 102-91 Zalgiris Kaunas
Baskonia bounced back from its recent losses by downing Zalgiris 102-91 at Buesa Arena on Friday night. Baskonia improved to 9-16 after registering its eighth home win of the season. Meanwhile, Zalgiris dropped to 14-11 and lost the chance to win its third consecutive road game.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot led six Baskonia players in double digits with 19 points on 10-of-10 free throws. Trent Forrest added 16 points on 7-of-7 two-pointers, Rodions Kurucs and Markus Howard each had 15, Kobi Simmons contributed 12 while Mamadi Dikaite got 11 for the winners. Sylvain Francisco led Zalgiris with 20 points. Dustin Sleva added 13, Moses Wright had 12 while Ignas Brazdeikis got 11 for the guests, which led 84-89 midway through the fourth quarter. Forrest, Kurucs and Luwawu-Cabarrot fueled an 18-2 final run which allowed Baskonia to celebrate a hard-fought victory.
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 78-79 Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens
Panathinaikos got back to winning ways by edging ASVEL 78-79 at LDLC Arena on Friday night. ASVEL started strong and opened the game with an 8-0 run, but Panathinaikos responded and took a 29-35 lead after a low-scoring first half. Inspired by an ageless Kostas Sloukas, who made his 450th EuroLeague appearance, the guests opened a double-digit lead midway through the fourth quarter and managed to see the game out despite ASVEL’s late comeback attempt.
Having grabbed its first road victory in three games, Panathinaikos improved its record to 15-10. Meanwhile, ASVEL suffered its sixth straight defeat, dropping to 6-19.
Sloukas led all scorers with a season-high 26 points. Jerian Grant netted 15 and Richaun Holmes paired his 11 points with 9 rebounds. Braian Angola scored a career-high 20 points, with Melvin Ajinca and Bastien Vautier bagging 14 each.
Thursday, January 29
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 79-62 Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Fenerbahce took the Turkish Derby by thrashing Efes 79-62 at Ulker Sports and Event Hall. Fenerbahce improved 17-7 in the standings and is on a five-game home winning streak. Meanwhile, Efes dropped to 6-19 with its ninth consecutive loss, matching its longest losing streak in competition history back in 2014.
Fenerbahce led from start to finish, getting a 25-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended it to 61-39 after 30 minutes to cruise to a well-deserved victory. Talen Horton-Tucker led the winners with 22 points in 19 minutes. Nando De Colo added 12 points, Tarik Biberovic had 10 while Wade Baldwin dished 9 assists without any turnovers for Fenerbahce. Saben Lee paced Efes with 19 points.
Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv 64-79 FC Bayern Munich
Bayern collected a rare road victory while also causing a change at the top of the standings by surprising Hapoel with a 64-79 win. Bayern put together a 0-12 run in the third quarter to take control of the game and improve to 10-15 and 2-10 away from home.
Bayern has won five of its last seven games to slowly edge towards the playoff ranks. Isiaha Mike paced Bayern with 16 points while Andreas Obst had 13 points and Vladimir Lucic and Neno Dimitrijevic both chipped in 11. The loss dropped Hapoel to 16-8 with back-to-back losses and falling to second place, handing over the top spot to Fenerbahce. Vasilije Micic led the hosts with 13 points and 5 assists.
Olympiacos Piraeus 87-75 FC Barcelona
Olympiacos recorded its eighth win in the last nine games by defeating Barcelona 87-85 at Peace and Friendship Stadium. The hosts kicked off the game with a 13-2 run before taking a 27-13 lead into the second quarter. Barcelona fought back and outscored Olympiacos 32-51 in the next two quarters. However, the hosts tightened up their defense and held the visitors to just 11 points in the fourth to clinch the victory thanks to a late 15-2 run.
Olympiacos improved to a 16-8 record and Barcelona dropped to 16-9, but Jan Vesely’s buzzer-beating jumper to end the game gave the visitors the head-to-head tiebreak advantage following their 98-85 win back in early December. Sasha Vezenkov paired his 20 points with 11 rebounds and Tyler Dorsey scored 17, with Tyrique Jones netting 16 and picking up 8 rebounds in his best performance so far in a red-and-white jersey. Kevin Punter bagged a team-high 15 points for Barça, with Dario Brizuela and Will Clyburn scoring 14 each.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan 85-79 Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade
Milan snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 12-13, hauling itself back into the postseason picture on the back of 20 points from Zach LeDay who shined against his former club. LeDay netted 7 crucial points in the home stretch as Milan dished out 18 team assists and overcame a feisty third quarter when Quinn Ellis hit 2 of 4 successive three-pointers which gave Milan a 69-57 advantage ahead of the final 10 minutes of the contest.
Playing with a decimated back court, Partizan fought hard and having trailed 52-43 at halftime, the visitors slashed the deficit to 71-68 in the fourth but Milan had more in the tank when the chips were down.
Valencia Basket 94-83 Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv
Valencia outlasted Maccabi for a vital 94-83 home win. Maccabi launched an early 2-17 run to take a double-digit lead, and 10 points from TJ Leaf helped make it 44-50 at halftime. Valencia made a 7-0 start to the second half to go ahead, but Maccabi edged back in front, 66-68, heading into the final period. Jimmy Clark scored 8 fast points but Neal Sako allowed Valencia to respond as the lead regularly changed hands, before the hosts pulled away in the latter stages as Maccabi’s offense ran dry.
Jean Montero paced the winning team with 19 points, while Kam Taylor added 17 and Sako prowled the paint to the tune of 12 points and 8 rebounds. Omari Moore and Brancou Badio netted 12 points apiece. Leaf led Maccabi with 14 points, with Lundberg and Clark both scoring 12. Valencia improves to 16-9 while Maccabi’s postseason hopes take a blow as it drops to 10-15.
Tuesday, January 27
Paris Basketball 98-92 Real Madrid
Paris notched its first home win of 2026 by defeating Real Madrid 98-92. Despite Real Madrid grabbing its first lead since the first quarter with 1:41 to go thanks to an Andres Feliz three-pointer, Nadir Hifi immediately hit back before Jared Rhoden gave Paris some breathing room at 94-90. Free throws by Rhoden restored Paris’s four-point advantage (96-92) after a Mario Hezonja layup, and Leo Cavaliere put the icing on the win with a fastbreak layup in the final second. Paris improved to 8-16 with this victory, while Real Madrid – which came into the game riding a six-game winning streak – dropped to 16-9.
Hifi was Paris’s top scorer with 21 points, with Amath M’Baye adding 16, Rhoden notching 15, Justin Robinson contributing 12, and Cavaliere netting 11. Momo Faye also had 6 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. Real Madrid was led in scoring by Trey Lyles, who had 21 points. Feliz, benefitting from extended minutes due to the injury of Theo Maledon, poured in a career-high 18 points, and Hezonja chipped in with 16. Edy Tavares posted 6 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks, too.