EUROLEAGUE - Panathinaikos run roughshod over Roanne

ROANNE (Euroleague) - Panathinaikos showed the tremendous gulf in class that exists between some of the teams in the Euroleague by scoring a competition record 123 points in a mauling of reigning French champions Roanne on Wednesday.

CSKA Moscow, Partizan Igokea, Olympiacos, Efes Pilsen, Montepaschi Siena and Tau Ceramica were also winners in the latest round.

Roanne have acquitted themselves well this season in Europe, starting with a victory over Brose Baskets Bamberg before suffering three straight narrow defeats.

But the word close would not have entered any of Thursday morning's game reports because they were blown out in front of their own fans by Pana, 123-83.

Roanne, whose French league title in 2006-07 was their first since 1959, were totally overmatched against the Greens.

"The fact is that Panathinaikos is too big for us to compete with," admitted Roanne boss Jean-Denys on the Euroleague website.

In the French top flight, Roanne are in sixth place with five wins from eight games.

"My team cannot go on with its current lineup," Jean-Denys added.

"The team parted ways with Kenny Dartez this week. This team is too weak to do well in the Euroleague and maybe it will soon be too weak in the French League, too."

Andrija Zizic, the former Croatia international, had 26 points to lead Panathinaikos.

In other games, Lithuanian international Ramunas Siskauskas, a key player in Pana's title winning campaign last season, scored a game-high 19 points as CSKA Moscow won for the fourth time in five games with a 78-70 home triumph over Zalgiris Kaunas.

It was a special night in Moscow with the club celebrating 50 years of European club basketball.

"It was a great honour for everyone in our team to be at the celebration of CSKA legends," said CSKA's Italian coach Ettore Messina, who led the club to the Euroleague title two seasons ago and to a runners-up finish in 2006-07.

"We started the game well (against Zalgiris), both on offense and defense. But we had ups and downs that didn't give us the chance to gain a better advantage," he added on CSKA's official website.

Partizan Igokea continued their impressive season with a 91-86 triumph at home over struggling Lottomatica Roma.

Partizan, who also lead the Adriatic League with a 9-1 mark, are 3-2 in Group C of the Euroleague.

Lietuvos Rytas were brought down to earth in front of their own fans by Efes Pilsen, 77-70.

The Lithuanian giants lost for the first time in the competition but still lead Group B.

In other games, Olympiacos thrashed Prokom Trefl Sopot 109-65, Montepaschi Siena prevailed in a battle of Italian teams, beating Virtus Bologna 80-69 and Union Olimpija crashed to a 92-78 defeat against Tau Ceramica.

FIBA