Barcelona go joint second with win over Panithanaikos, Maccabi Electra beaten

justindoellman - CROPPED

Barcelona climbed to joint second in Euroleague Group E on Thursday with a narrow 81-77 victory at Panathinaikos.

Having taken the lead in the final minute of the first half, the Spanish giants refused to let go of the advantage, holding off some good work by their Greek hosts in the third and fourth periods.

Justin Doellman's 21 points and seven rebounds proved crucial for the Catalans, with Panathinaikos closing to within two points on two separate occasions in the second half.

The result sees Barcelona pull level with Maccabi Electra, who lost 89-76 at Crvena Zvezda Telekom, with a 6-3 record.

Boban Marjanovic starred with a double-double (19 points, 17 rebounds), and the hosts scored 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull away 83-68 and take firm control of the encounter.

The result marks just the Belgrade outfit's second win of the season, while Maccabi will be gearing up to visit Barcelona next week.

In Group F, Fenerbahce Ulker maintained the heat on leaders Olympiacos, who do not play until Friday.

The Turkish side were 92-79 winners over Nizhny Novgorod, led by 16-point hero Nemanja Bjelica for their sixth victory on the bounce in the Top 16.

In the day's remaining clash, Laboral Kutxa - involved in a shocking brawl during their Liga ACB clash with Bilbao at the weekend - did not put up enough of a fight as they lost 81-74 to CSKA Moscow.

The Russians had suffered their first home defeat of the season last week, but bounced back to end the hosts three-match winning streak.

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