ESP - DKV Joventut hold on for dear life to beat Roma

BADALONA (Euroleague) - DKV Joventut held off a resilient Lottomatica Roma 97-93 in Badalona on Thursday in the Euroleague.

The Romans, whose coach Jasmin Repesa stepped down on Monday after the club's fifth consecutive defeat in Italy's Lega A, trailed by 15 points in the second half but fought back and threw a major scare into DKV.

Coached in the interim by Repesa's assistant, the former Caserta and Milan great Nando Gentile, Roma cut the deficit to 95-93 with just 17 seconds remaining to quiet the crowd.

On the ensuing inbounds play, however, Becirovic fouled Pau Ribas to stop the clock and the referee ruled it an unsportsmanlike foul.

Becirovic walked off the court in disbelief while DKV captain Ribas took advantage by making both free throws for a four-point lead.

DKV kept the ball because of the intentional foul and ended up winning by four.

"We had a strange week with the resignation of Jasmin Repesa as coach," said Gentile, who was slapped with a technical foul during the game.

"It has been mentally tough and worrisome for us, just a very difficult week altogether ...

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy, and it hasn't been, but I have to say that we fought for 40 minutes together, even though at the end the victory escaped from us.

"So I can only be satisfied that my players have shown this character and fought the whole game in such a tough place to play."

Bracey Wright led DKV Joventut with 19 points and Serbia international Luka Bogdanovic scored 15.

Henk Norel, the impressive Dutch center for DKV, suffered a broken nose in the first quarter but returned to the court and wore a face-mask.

He had seven points in just eight minutes.

DKV captain Ribas finished with eight points and five assists while Ricky Rubio also played eight minutes and 34 seconds in his comeback from wrist surgery.

Hutson had a game-high 22 points and Becirovic weighed in with 14 for Roma.

Hutson and Roberto Gabini were also hit with unsportsmanlike fouls in the game.

In another thriller, Real Madrid beat Partizan Belgrade 68-67 with Croatia's Marko Tomas drilling a game-winning three-ball in the final seconds.

Madrid sealed the win by coming up with a steal on Partizan's last possession.

Tomas is accustomed to coming through in the clutch.

His three-pointer near the end of Croatia's clash with Spain at EuroBasket 2007 in Seville was the go-ahead basket that gave his team victory in that group game.

Other Euroleague results: SLUC Nancy 78 Asseco Prokom 70, Panathinaikos 76 Barcelona 87, Air Avellino 72 Maccabi Tel Aviv 86.

FIBA