Real Madrid registered a critical win in its race to reach the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague playoffs by defeating Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens 92-75 in the Spanish capital on Thursday. Madrid improved to 15-10 in the standings and dropped Panathinaikos to 14-11. Fabien Causeur paced the winners with 26 points, Facu Campazzo added 15 and Walter Tavares had 14 plus 7 rebounds and 3 blocks for Madrid, which was without star guard Luka Doncic. Mike James led Panathinaikos with 23 points on 7-of-7 two-point shooting. K.C. Rivers added 12 points, Marcus Denmon had 11 and Nick Calathes 10 for the visitors. Madrid led 38-37 at halftime before Tavares, Campazzo and Causeur led a 10-0 run that boosted Madrid's lead to 56-42. James singlehandedly brought Panathinaikos within 64-55 after 30 minutes, but Felipe Reyes had 7 critical points early in the fourth quarter and an outstanding Causeur helped Madrid seal the outcome long before the final buzzer.
Score in each period: 19-20, 38-37, 64-55, 92-75PHOTOS
