ISTANBUL (Euroleague) - Efes Pilsen handed Montepaschi Siena just their second defeat of the Euroleague season on Wednesday, the opening night of Top 16 action.
 
There were also triumphs in Spain for Power Electronics Valencia and Real Madrid while in Lithuania, Panathinaikos trailed at half-time but blew away Lietuvos Rytas after the break.
 
The closest contest of the night was played in Istanbul, where Efes prevailed 60-58 over Mens Sana.
 
Igor Rakocevic, who had been unwell this week, nevertheless played and scored a game-high 17 points for the winners.
 
The Italian outfit, 9-1 during the Regular Season, trailed by nine early in the fourth quarter and were still behind by six when Ksistof Lavrinovic scored on a drive to the basket two minutes from the end.
 
Nikos Zisis then cut the deficit to 60-58 with a three ball in the final minute and the Greek international had an opportunity to win it at the buzzer but his running three only hit the front of the rim and stayed out.
 
Simone Pianigiani, the Mens Sana coach, said: "We played with our hearts and played excellent defense.
 
"I cannot ask anything else from my players."
 
Efes coach Velimir Perasovic highlighted the play of Bootsy Thornton, who had 12 points, nine rebounds and two assists against the team he played for from 2003-05.
 
"Bootsy Thornton is one of the key players of our victory tonight," he said.
 
"His 28 performance index rating was really impressive."
 
BC Zalgiris, meanwhile, fell 73-59 at Power Electronics Valencia.
 
The club has appointed a new coach, Ilias Zouros, and also this week waved good-bye to Mirza Begic after letting the Slovenian center join Real Madrid.
 
Dusko Savanovic and Victor Claver continued their all-star caliber play for Valencia, scoring 20 and 14 points, respectively, while Ukrainian center Serhiy Lishchuk had his best performance of the season with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
"I think it could have been a different story if we'd just had a couple of more days together with the new coach," Zalgiris' Lithuania international Martynas Pocius said to FIBA.com.
 
"I still think we can do something next week at home against Olympiacos."
 
Valencia coach Svetislav Pesic wasn't happy after his team's nine-game winning streak in the ACB was halted by Estudiantes on Sunday but he was pleased on Wednesday.
 
"I think we played excellent defense against a very dangerous Zalgiris team," he said.
 
"Our players had great concentration and we are very happy about the victory.
 
"We played today like a Euroleague team has to play."
 
Begic, who averaged almost 10 points and five rebounds for Zalgiris in the Regular Season, didn't play for Madrid who won 78-58 at home over Partizan Belgrade.
 
Trailing 20-17 early in the second quarter, Madrid outscored Partizan 26-9 in the second and pulled away for a decisive triumph with Sergio Llull scoring 21 points.
 
Clay Tucker hit a couple of three-balls and scored eight points in the decisive second-quarter run while Carlos Suarez had seven points in the decisive spurt and Llull four.
 
Llull, who was nine of 10 at the free-throw line, is in great form.
 
He hit a tough shot in the lane on Sunday to lift Madrid to a narrow win over Fuenlabrada in the ACB.
 
The other Top 16 clash was played in Vilnius and Panathinaikos hit back from a half-time deficit to win big over Lietuvos Rytas, 80-59.
 
The hosts were in fine fettle early on and led 33-29 at the break.
 
The loss of sharpshooter Martynas Gecevicius to injury in the third quarter didn’t help their cause, however.
 
Gecevicius, a bronze-medal winner at the FIBA World Championship last year with Lithuania, was hurt while attempting to draw a charge and had to leave the game.
 
He had scored eight points in 16 minutes when forced to exit the game.
 
Mike Batiste scored a game-high 26 points for the Greens with teammate and Greece international Kostas Kaimakoglou adding 16 points and nine boards.
 
Lietuvos Rytas lost point guards Sarunas Jasikevicius and Jerry Johnson to Fenerbahce and Galatasaray in the past few weeks.
 
The Vilnius club had 20 turnovers to just seven for Pana.
 
Lietuvos Rytas signed DJ Strawberry earlier this week but the guard didn't play against Panathinaikos.
 
FIBA