Intro:

There were wins for Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and Olympiacos Piraeus.

The sides were playing round four matches in basketball's Euroleague Top 16.

Script:

Zoran Planinic was the hero for Anadolu Efes Istanbul as they recorded their first victory in Group E of the Euroleague's Top 16 phase.

The home crowd roared their side to a 61-60 victory over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan of Italy, but it was a close run thing as they were behind for most of the game.

However, in the third and fourth quarters, Efes embarked on a 17-2 run, with Dusko Savanovic scoring nine points, to take the lead.

Keith Langford, whose missed foul shot allowed Planinic to win it, led Milan with 18 points as the visitors slipped to a 2-2 record in Group E, while Efes went level with Laboral Kutxa and Fenerbahce Ulker on 1-3.

Laboral Kutxa were thrashed 89-70 at home by Olympiacos Piraeus.

The two-time defending Euroleague champions produced one of the highest-scoring halves in Top 16 history to get back to winning ways and improve to 2-2 in Group E.

Reigning MVP Vassilis Spanoulis and Matt Lojeski were the driving forces for the visitors, who hit nine three-pointers from 13 attempts.

The Reds built up a 59-38 lead by half time, but refused to rest on their laurels and a rampaging 11-0 run at the start of the second half extended their lead to 70 points to 40.

In Group F, Lokomotiv Kuban took on bottom club Zalgiris Kaunas in a potentially crucial game for both sides.

The visitors began brightly, taking a 29-16 lead by the end of the opening quarter, but they couldn't hold on.

The game went down to the wire.

Zalgiris still led by eight points at 75-67 with four minutes left but Segey Bykov and Valeriy Likhodey fuelled a final 13-0 run which allowed Lokomotiv to win the game by 80 points to 75.

Lokomotiv move into a tie with FC Bayern Munich for fourth place in Group F, while Zalgiris drop to 0-4.