EUROLEAGUE – Union Olimpija, Caja Laboral and Fener win on road; Navarro shoots down Maccabi

ROME (Euroleague) - The opening week of the Euroleague Top 16 finished with a bang on Thursday night as Union Olimpija, Regal Barcelona, Caja Laboral and Fenerbahce all clinched wins in tight games.

Slovenia is one of the hotbeds of hoops and the country's club sides are riding the wave of enthusiasm for the sport to big wins.

KRKA Novo Mesto won their EuroChallenge Last 16 opener at home to Dexia Mons-Hainaut on Tuesday and Union Olimpija travelled to the Eternal City on Thursday night and edged Lottomatica Roma in their Top 16 clash, 64-63.

Kenny Gregory put on another great display for the Ljubljana outfit, pouring in 19 points and corralling 14 rebounds.

Jure Zdovc's side hit 19 of 21 (90.4%) of their free-throws, including two with eight seconds remaining by Gregory for the final score.

It's the little things that really matter for Union Olimpija.

They trailed 63-58 and were in danger of falling further behind when Gregory was off target with a shot but Slovenia international and fan favorite Goran Jagodnik grabbed the offensive rebound to keep possession in the hands of the visitors.

Teammate Damir Markota was then fouled by Andrea Crosariol and made two free-throws.

After a turnover by Roma's Vladimir Dasic, Gregory went to the other end and was fouled by Luigi Datome and sank two from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to 63-62.

Then after Darius Washington missed for Roma, Zdovc's team got Gregory's go-ahead free-throws.

Roma still had several seconds left but Nemanja Gordic drove into the lane, attacked the basket and he missed the potential game-winning shot.

Gregory rebounded to seal the victory.

Zdovc's team forced Roma, who are now coached by Slovenian Sasa Filipovski, to turn the ball over 22 times.

Montenegro international Dasic had a great game for Roma, drilling four of five shots from the arc on his way to 18 points.

He also pulled down a team-high 11 boards.

Caja Laboral also claimed a valuable road triumph, winning 76-71 at Unicaja Malaga.

Chus Mateo replaced Aito Garcia Reneses at the helm of Unicaja this week and his team went in front 51-44 on a lay-up by Roderick Blakney midway through the third quarter.

Caja Laboral's South Americans Marcelo Huertas (Brazil) and Esteban Batista (Uruguay) poured in the points to knot the contest at 51-51.

Then Baskonia got a go-ahead three-pointer from  Fernando San Emeterio, who played for Spain at last year's FIBA World Championship.

With the scored knotted at 53-53, San Emeterio buried one from the arc and Batista followed with two more baskets for a 60-53 Caja Laboral advantage.

Dusko Ivanovic's side stayed in front the rest of the way.

Huertas, one of the big stories in Spanish basketball the past several years and a key player in the Brazil national team, had 19 points, four assists, four rebounds and a steal for Caja Laboral.

Great Britain international Joel Freeland poured in 16 points and had seven rebounds for Unicaja.

"If winning at home is good, winning on the road is even better," Huertas said.

"We must keep doing this. We have to look for Batista when the outside shots are not going in because he can really hurt rivals inside.

"We showed good spirit in the fight."

Batista only recently joined the team from Fuenlabrada.

Maccabi Tel Aviv, one of Batista’s former teams, won nine of their 10 Regular Season games but fell at Regal Barcelona, 81-71, on Thursday.

Defending champions Barca got 24 points from Spain international Juan Carlos Navarro, who connected on five off 10 shots from long range and also sank nine of 10 free-throws.

Ricky Rubio had just one point for the home side and missed all six of his shots from the floor, but the Spain national team point guard had eight assists, four rebounds and a steal.

David Blatt, the Maccabi coach, said: "Navarro is a great player and he really hurt us. We will have to deal with him better next time.”

The team Barcelona beat in last year's final, Olympiacos, endured a fourth-quarter collapse and fell at home to Fenerbahce Ulker, 84-70.

They were on top 58-55 entering the last frame but fell apart.

"We were outscored 29-12 in the last quarter, and there is no room for much analysis to do about that," Olympiacos coach Dusan Ivkovic said.

"It was a shock for the players to go from a three-point advantage to a 14-point deficit within minutes.

"This is a very bad result for us in the beginning of the Top 16, and I am not talking about the final difference.

"My players are shocked by this defeat.

"We have to find the solution as soon as possible."

Fenerbahce boss Neven Spahija, meanwhile, was elated with the win away from home but stressed the need for Fenerbahce's fans and players to remain calm.

"We have to curb our enthusiasm," he said.

"There is a string of difficult games ahead us and a lot of hard work still needs to be done.

"This is a big step towards the top spot in the group for us, but I repeat that it is too soon to talk about that now."

Croatia internationals Marko Tomas and Roko Ukic led Fener with 19 and 17 points, respectively.

FIBA