EUROLEAGUE – Olympiacos win at Charleroi to seal Top 16 spot

CHARLEROI (Euroleague) - Olympiacos did themselves and fellow Group B sides Real Madrid, Unicaja Malaga and Lottomatica a huge favor on Monday night by clinching a place in the Euroleague Top 16 for all four sides with an 80-67 win at Spirou Charleroi.

Greece internationals Ioannis Bourousis (19 points) and Vassilis Spanoulis (18pts) and Serbia playmaker Milos Teodosic (16pts) led the way as Olympiacos took over sole possession of first place for at least 24 hours with a 6-3 record.

Real Madrid and Unicaja (5-3) can rejoin them at the top with wins on Wednesday while Roma are 4-4 going into their home game against Unicaja.

Ivkovic, who is also the coach of Serbia's national team and took over Olympiacos in the summer, says the Greek giants are making big strides.

"I needed time to build something great with my team and we're on the right path," he said.

With the result, Belgians Charleroi (3-6) have no chance of advancing to the next stage of Euroleague.

Freeland, Batiste out of action

Unicaja will not have Great Britain international Joel Freeland against Lottomatica Roma on Wednesday due to a hamstring problem.

He will be hoping to return to the fray this weekend in the ACB but could miss his team's home clash with Power Electronics Valencia.

Meanwhile, Panathinaikos' Mike Batiste is out of action for two weeks with a leg injury picked up last week in the overtime win over Union Olimpija.

That means he will miss the next two Euroleague Group D games against Efes Pilsen and Armani Jeans Milano.

Pana are in first place in Group D at 6-2 ahead of Olimpija (5-3), Milano and Efes Pilsen (both 4-4), Valencia (3-5) and CSKA Moscow (2-6).

FIBA