Basketball-Olympiakos reach playoffs as Alba beat Red Star

By Zoran Milosavljevic BELGRADE, March 26 (Reuters) - Triple Euroleague champions Olympiakos Piraeus sealed a playoff berth with two games to spare after a strong final quarter helped them to an 86-75 home win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Thursday. Alba Berlin kept alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stage thanks to a 73-68 home defeat of Red Star Belgrade while Spaniards Laboral Kutxa Vitoria missed a chance to edge closer after a 99-85 setback at Emporio Armani Milan. Olympiakos, having lost their previous two games without injured playmaker Vassilis Spanoulis, dug deep in the final 10 minutes as his understudy Oliver Lafayette netted 17 points and Georgios Printezis added 15. The Greek side, who improved their record to 9-3, joined CSKA Moscow and Fenerbahce Istanbul in the quarter-finals from Group F while Real Madrid and Barcelona have already advanced from Group E. Anadolu Efes still have a chance to progress but Thursday's defeat was a sour return home for their Serbian coach Dusan Ivkovic, who guided Olympiakos to two of their three Euroleague titles -- in 1997 and 2012. Efes kept nosing ahead through the opening three quarters but their defence collapsed in the fourth, which the home side won 33-18 thanks to a barrage of fast breaks and three-pointers. Alba stayed in the playoff hunt after a balanced team effort cancelled out a brilliant individual display by Red Star centre Boban Marjanovic, the game's top performer with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Alba's Croatian Marko Banic scored 18 points and Alex Renfroe chipped in with 13 for the German outfit, who have six wins and as many defeats heading into the home straight of the second group stage. Laboral Kutxa could have gained ground on Anadolu Efes in the battle for fourth place in their section but they fizzled out after a promising start in Milan. The Spaniards led by four points at the break but conceded a staggering 60 in the second half as guard Alessandro Gentile poured in 29 points for the Italians, including four three-pointers from five attempts. The Top 16, which is the second group stage, comprises two sections of eight teams. The top four from each group advance to the best-of-five quarter-finals, with the winners of those ties qualifying for the May 15-17 Final Four in Madrid. (Editing by Ken Ferris)