EUROLEAGUE –Vujosevic resigns, Roma stun Bamberg and Valencia upset Pana

BAMBERG (Euroleague) – Heads are spinning around Europe after a drama-filled Thursday that started with CSKA Moscow’s announcement that coach Dusko Vujosevic had resigned following the club’s 1-5 start in the Euroleague.

Widely acknowledged as one of the best coaches in the game, Vujosevic had a nightmare in Moscow.

CSKA were riddled with injuries at the start of the season and never found their feet under the former Partizan Belgrade boss with Wednesday’s setback at Armani Jeans Milano his last game in charge.

“CSKA We are very sorry to part with Dule,” said CSKA president Andrey Vatutin.

“We appreciate his work and we are sure that his career will take another successful turn.

“We will plan the other ways of developing the team.

“The 2010-11 season is not finished. We will fight until the end.

“We will try to use our chances. Missing the Euroleague Top 16 would be distressing and we will do our best to avoid it. The art is not in avoiding the falls but in standing up after the fall.”

Smith’s buzzer-beater

On the court, the most thrilling of contests turned out to be in Germany where Charles Smith drilled a turnaround, fade-away three-pointer from the right corner at the buzzer to lift Lottomatica Roma to a 68-67 Euroleague triumph at Brose Baskets Bamberg.

In a pulsating Group B encounter, a Casey Jacobsen three-ball pulled Bamberg to within a point and following a Roma miss, Brian Roberts nailed a shot from the arc with just 1.9 seconds remaining for a 67-65 lead.

The basket sent the home crowd into raptures.

After a timeout, though, Roma inbounded the ball to Smith on the right and he turned around and released the ball just before the final horn sounded.

"It was amazing for Charles to hit that shot," said Roma's Josh Heytvelt.

Roma coach Matteo Boniciolli was ecstatic.

"You need a Charles Smith to score that kind of basket," he said.

"Winning this game, the fog leaves and we realize that we are a good team.

"We won by allowing only 67 points.

"The defense and the intensity was the difference in the game. If we play this defense we can beat anyone."

Bamberg's Anton Gavel shrugged his shoulders.

"It was a tough shot," he said.

"We defended him well but he hit it. What can you say?”

For Roma, Smith finished with 16 points while point guard Darius Washington was sensational and had 17.

Roma improved to 3-3 in Group B while Bamberg dropped to 2-4.

Pesic, Valencia down Pana

Power Electronics Valencia looked dead and buried in the Euroleague two weeks ago when they crashed to a heavy loss at home to Armani Jeans Milano.

However, they've shown in the past couple of games that one should never underestimate players, or a coach, that know what it takes to win a championship.

Valencia, who won the Eurocup last season, came from behind to stun Panathinaikos in Athens on Thursday.

With Serbian coaching great Svetislav Pesic having replaced Manuel Hussein at the helm, the Spanish outfit breathed life into its European campaign by winning for the second time in six games.

One of the players that lifted the Eurocup in Vitoria was Florent Pietrus, who wasn't offered a new contract in the summer but rejoined the team a month into this season.

“Coach Pesic tried from the very first moment to change our psychology and it worked," Pietrus said.

"We came here with a lot of confidence and determination and we proved that we could play better than we used to.

"Passion, good defense, great offensive decisions were the main bases for this great success.”

Pana looked to be headed for victory.

They stretched a 39-37 advantage at half-time to 57-48 with 10 minutes to go but Valencia outscored them 25-12 in the fourth quarter to win.

France international Nando De Colo's lay-up in the last minute snapped a 64-64 tie and then Dusko Savanovic dunked for a four-point lead.

Dimitris Diamantidis buried a three-pointer to reduce the arrears to 68-67 before Omar Cook and Mike Batiste each made free-throws.

When Cook split a pair at the line, Pana had a chance to tie or go in front but Romain Sato, who had a game-high 19 points, turned the ball over.

De Colo killed the game off with two free-throws.

He finished with a team-high 14 points.

Omar Cook contributed eight points, nine assists and five rebounds for Valencia.

Victor Claver also played well for Pesic in the fourth quarter and finished with 12 points, six rebounds and two steals.

Pesic, who led the former Yugoslavia to the gold medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, said: "I am a coach who thinks we can always win but the season is long and we must not get too excited.

"There's a lot of work to do."

The defeat dropped Panathinaikos to 4-2 in Group D, along with Efes Pilsen and Union Olimpija.

Efes won their game at home against Olimpija, 84-78, with Lawrence Roberts leading six players in double figures with 14 points.

The contest was knotted at 60-60 when two free-throws by Roberts started a 6-0 run that put Efes in front to stay.

In Group A, Partizan Belgrade improved to 4-2 after a 68-62 home triumph over Zalgiris while Maccabi Tel Aviv won for the fifth time in six games by beating Caja Laboral, 81-70.

Caja Laboral slumped to their fourth defeat in six games.

Spirou Charleroi won for the second time, beating Unicaja Malaga 79-74 and Real Madrid avenged their season-opening defeat to Olympiacos by winning 82-68.

The Reds and Real are 4-2 at the top of Group B while Unicaja are 3-3.

In Group C, Regal Barcelona blew away hosts Cibona Zagreb 94-75 with Ricky Rubio having another solid game.

The Spain international point guard struggled early in the season but has found some rhythm and in Croatia, he poured in 18 points, dished out four assists and came up with four steals.

Australia international Joe Ingles is having no trouble fitting in at Barca since joining from Granada.

He had 16 points , Terence Morris 15 and Fran Vazquez 14.

FIBA