19 December 2009 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
Turkish champion Efes Pilsen was beaten 77-79 by Spanish side Unicaja on Thursday night, the defeat dropping Efes’ Euroleague record to 3-5.
Its chances of qualifying for the Top 16 now hang by a thread. Unicaja (6-2) and Greek side Olympiakos have the same record and have both qualified for the Top 16, while Efes fell to fifth place in its group behind Serbian side Partizan. Igor Rakocevic banged in 21 points for Efes, Charles Smith added 14 and Mario Kasun 11. But this counted for nothing as the Turkish champion had 19 turnovers, which explains why it lost. Georgios Printezis was the top scorer for the Spanish side with 15 points. Jiri Welsch and Carlos Jimenez scored 12 each and Joel Freeland 11. Other Euroleague results on Thursday: Regal Barcelona 89, Zalgiris 75; Entente Orleanaise 75, Partizan 72; CSKA Moscow 77, Maccabi Electra 72; Panathinaikos 67, Real Madrid 76; and AJ Milano 82, Asseco Prokom 69.
