GRE - Pana sink Lottomatica Roma

ATHENS (Euroleague) - Dejan Bodiroga looked in inspired form but he could not prevent his former team Panathinaikos from claiming an 87-71 Euroleague win over Lottomatica Roma in their Group B clash.

Bodiroga's game-high 17 points went to waste as Pana improved to 4-0 to lead the group.

Mike Batiste had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead five Pana players scoring in double figures.

Sani Becirovic had 15 points, Ramunas Siskauskas 14, Kostas Tsartsaris 12 and Nikos Chatzivrettes 10.

Pana had to come from behind to take the win, though, as Bodiroga helped give the Italians a nine-point lead in the early stages.

However, Siskauskas sank a three-pointer just before the half-time interval and Pana never trailed again.

Vlado Ilievski had 16 points for Roma and Ognjen Askrabic chipped in with 13, but it was not enough in a defeat which leaves them at 1-3 in the standings.

Bodiroga, who won three Greek titles and two Euroleague crowns in seven years with Pana, was afforded a hero's welcome by the Athens crowd.

"I want to thank Panathinaikos fans for their incredible welcome, and the board, too," said Bodiroga, who won two FIBA World Championship gold medals with Yugoslavia/Serbia & Montenegro in 1998 and 2002.

"It feels like home here. I have Panathinaikos and its supporters in my heart. I am and I will always be a fan of Panathinaikos. I hope my two-year-old son, who watched me tonight from the stands, will also support Panathinaikos in the future.

"As far as the game went, we played well for 35 minutes. But, we have to forget everything about the last five minutes of the game."

Partizan Belgrade needed two overtimes to see off Cibona Zagreb 101-92 in Group C's other encounter.

The two teams were locked together for much of regular time, with the score 39-39 at half-time, and 59-55 to Partizan by the end of the third.

Late in the final quarter, Davor Kus scored from the free-throw line to tie the game at 75-75 and Partizan center Kosta Perovic missed a lay-up to force extra time.

However, the further five minutes was not enough to separate the teams, with the score on 83-83.

But the second overtime proved one step too far for Cibona and Predrag Drobnjak slammed in a dunk to cap a decisive 12-2 run.

"This is a big victory," said Perovic.

"It's important on our way to the last 16. I think it will be the same in future games. Nobody can book an easy win here in Belgrade."

In Group C, CSKA Moscow improved to 3-1 with an 83-67 victory over Benetton Treviso.

The Russians overwhelmed their visitors by making 13 of their 22 (59%) shots from three-point range.

They jumped out to a 20-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Treviso closed the gap before half-time and went to the locker room 31-25 down.

Both teams scored 26 points during a frantic third quarter, but CSKA made sure of victory by outscoring their opponents 26-16 in the final period.

Trajan Langdon and David Anderson led CSKA with 16 points each, while JR Holden and Matjaz Smodis added 14 apiece.

Aris TT Bank mounted a late rally to beat Pau-Orthez 74-72 in the group's other game.

Pau were 68-59 up with a little over three minutes left on the clock, but a three-pointer from Michael Wilkinson and free throws from Terrell Castle and Alex

Scales down the stretch were part of an game-winning 8-1 Aris run in the closing stages.

Clint Harrison had a chance to win it for Pau with seconds remaining, but missed from three-point range.

Castle led Aris with 19 points while Scales had 18 and Jeremiah Massey collected 15 and 12 rebounds.

Britton Johnsen poured in 19 for Pau while Harrison had 14.

In Group A, Tau Ceramica were forced to hang on in the dying seconds as they edged out Efes Pilsen 68-65 to improve to 3-1.

The Spaniards led 66-61 with two minutes left on the clock but baskets from Cuneyt Erden and Drew Nicholas had the fans sitting a little less comfortably at
the Fernando Buesa Arena.

Zoran Planinic stole possession to score for Tau and Nicholas then missed twice from the charity stripe with eight seconds left to secure the win for Tau.

Argentina international Luis Scola led the hosts with 17 points, while Fred House collected 10 points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Nicholas, a former Tau player, had 18 points on his return to Vitoria.

PA Sport