BELGRADE, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Six-time Euroleague champions Panathinaikos reached the competition's second group stage with a game to spare and were joined by Russians Khimki and Croatian upstarts Cedevita Zagreb after thrilling action on Friday.
Holders Real Madrid, the winners of a record nine titles, kept alive their hopes of progressing as did Maccabi Tel Aviv, who have won Europe's premier basketball club competition five times.
Panathinaikos went through with an 82-51 home rout of Poles Stelmet Zielona Gora on the back of 18 points from guard Nick Calathes and 14 from forward James Gist.
Cedevita reached the Top 16, featuring two pools of eight teams, for the first time despite an 85-82 defeat at home by Emporio Armani Milan, who needed to win by 10 points to stay in contention.