(FIBA) – Two years ago, Partizan Belgrade shocked Panathinaikos in the Euroleague Top 16 round and on Wednesday night, they did it again.

(Discuss the Euroleague Top-16 in our forum)

The Belgrade giants came back from a nine-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter to put down the defending champions 64-59 in Group E.

What made it all the more amazing is that Partizan was without injured Australian center Aleks Maric, but promising young Czech Republic big man Jan Vesely poured in 13 points and Lawrence Roberts scored 12 and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Panathinaikos were also not at full strength with their front court stars Mike Batiste and Kostas Tsartsaris hurt.

“We tried to hit Panathinaikos where they had problems due to injuries,” Partizan coach Dusko Vujosevic said. “We didn’t have pressure, since they were the favorite. I would say that we are still the Group E underdog, despite this win.”

Zeljko Obradovic had warned before the contest that his players were facing a dangerous opponent.

“The first thing we should take care of was our defense and rebounds, since Partizan had an average of 11 offensive boards in the regular season,” Obradovic said after the game. “They had three in the first half and 11 in the second half and that was our biggest problem.”

Wednesday’s defeat won’t knock the Greens out of the Euroleague as it did in 2008. In the upset two years ago, Partizan beat Panathinaikos on the last night of the Top 16 at the Pionir to knock them out of the competition.

That Partizan team had current Panathinaikos players Nikola Pekovic and Milenko Tepic.

In Group G, CSKA Moscow won their eighth Euroleague game in a row, beating Unicaja Malaga 86-78. Lithuanian superstar Ramunas Siskauskas scored 23 points, making four of five shots from three-point range, and Trajan Langdon sank five of eight behind the arc on his way to 19 points.

See the original article at FIBA.com.