EUROLEAGUE - Saras returns to Barca and wins with Panathinaikos

BARCELONA (Euroleague) - Sarunas Jasikevicius received a warm welcome on his return to Barcelona with Panathinaikos and then struggled against his former team.

But Pana won anyway, 56-55, to take a two-game lead in Group C of the Euroleague.

Pana got a huge game from Greece international power forward/center Kostas Tsartsaris, who scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Before the game, Jasikevicius, a true legend of European basketball from Lithuania who helped Barcelona to the Euroleague title in 2003, reflected on his time at the club.

"It was an incredible year and to win the first Euroleague title with a sold-out arena was incredible," he said.

"I don't know why, but I think more about the reasons why I was thrown out of the club than the feeling of winning the Euroleague.

"Honestly, it's because it still hurts."

Indeed, Svetislav Pesic, the coach at the time, believed FYR Macedonia guard Vlado Ilievski would be adequate at point guard and far less expensive than Jasikevicius, and the Catalan team allowed the Lithuanian to leave.

After earning MVP honors at EuroBasket 2003 in Sweden with gold-medal winning Lithuania, Saras joined Maccabi Tel Aviv and led them to back-to-back crowns.

"I always say this is my city," Jasikevicius said. "And this is my club. I thought about retiring here a long time ago when I played at Barcelona, but others had other ideas."

Still, Jasikevicius doesn't enjoy games against his old team.

"It's easier to play against a team that you hate," he said.

The defeat has left Barcelona 8-3 in Group A, with Real Madrid leapfrogging them into second place after an 80-72 win at Partizan Belgrade.

With that win, Real Madrid clinched a place in the Top 16.

In Group A, CSKA Moscow lost at Olympiacos 71-67 but are still top of the pile with a 9-2 record.

Pini Gershon's Olympiacos are one of four sides in the group with 7-4 records.

One of them is Zalgiris Kaunas, who got 22 points from Marcus Brown en route to an 83-74 win at Union Olimpija in Ljubljana.

The win put Zalgiris into the Top 16.

Tau Ceramica are second and Montepaschi are third with 7-4 marks and are also in the Top 16.

There were three other games in the Euroleague on Thursday.

Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Unicaja Malaga 87-68 to leave both sides with 8-3 records in Group B.

Unicaja are still in second place.

David Blatt's Efes Pilsen also won, in a 91-84 overtime thriller at Le Mans (0-11).

That result has left them fourth in Group B at 7-4.

Prokom Trefl hammered Virtus Bologna 79-59 in a battle of teams that will not progress to the next stage.

FIBA