Barcelona reach Euroleague quarters, Real Madrid and CSKA Moscow closely following

Barcelona became the first Euroleague Top 16 side to clinch a spot in the quarter-finals, beating Fenerbahce 93-73. Real Madrid, led by Nikola Mirotic, meanwhile improved to 8-1 in the top 16 stage, beating Galatasaray 85-74.

Barcelona centre Ante Tomic scored 19 points in a weekend win that saw Europe's top basketball side improve to 9-0 in the Euroleague's Top 16 round. Josep Lago / AFP / March 6, 2014

Reuters

Double Euroleague champions Barcelona have booked a quarter-final berth with five games to spare while Real Madrid and CSKA Moscow are closing in on the last eight after picking up contrasting victories.

Emporio Armani Milan boosted their hopes of reaching the knockout stages with a shock 88-86 win at holders Olympiakos Piraeus and Russian debutants Lokomotiv Krasnodar kept alive their challenge after a thrilling 78-76 home defeat of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Barcelona, who won Europe’s elite club competition in 2003 and 2010, eased to a 93-73 triumph over Fenerbahce after Croatian centre Ante Tomic scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half.

"Our defence and intensity was outstanding," Barca coach Xavi Pasqual told the Euroleague website.

“We were quick in transition and shared the ball well, as shown by the fact we finished the game with 23 assists against a big team.”

Six-times champions CSKA Moscow defeated Lithuanians Zalgiris Kaunas 88-86, stretching their Top-16 record to 8-1 after Serbian playmaker Milos Teodosic scored 16 points and former Toronto Raptors guard Sonny Weems added 15.

The second group stage of the Euroleague features two pools of eight teams. The top four from each section qualify for the best-of-five quarter-final play-off series and the winners then advance to the May 16-18 Final Four in Milan.

Real stayed level with CSKA at the top of their section after forward Nikola Mirotic sank 18 points in a comfortable 85-74 win at Galatasaray that extended their record to 44-1 in all competitions.

The Montenegrin-born forward, sought by six-time NBA champions Chicago Bulls, produced one of his best performances in a Real shirt as the winners of eight Euroleague titles silenced a fervent Istanbul crowd with their long-range artillery.

The Spanish giants nailed a total of 11 three-pointers while former Portland Trail Blazers guard Rudy Fernandez and Greek centre Ioannis Bourousis claimed 14 points each.

In Friday’s curtain-raiser, Lokomotiv overpowered Maccabi on the back of a game-high 23 points from Croatia guard Krunoslav Simon who also dished out five assists and was delighted to engineer his team’s first win in four meetings this season against the Israelis.

“Before the game I said there was no way we can go 0-4 against Maccabi and we proved our quality today,” said Simon.

“I am happy for my teammates because we finally managed to win a close game. Everyone is saying I had a good game but it was truly a team effort and a very important one for our play-off chances.”

Milan, who last won the title in 1988, trailed 10-0 at Olympiakos after five minutes and turned the match on its head after American Keith Langford scored 20 points to leave the holders skating on thin ice with a 4-5 record after a third successive defeat.

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