Barcelona, CSKA beat rivals to advance to Final Four in EuroLeague

FC Barcelona Lassa sent their EuroLeague play-off tie with Anadolu Efes into a decisive game five as they won 82-72 at the Palau Blaugrana arena in Barcelona on Friday.

The Catalan side trailed 2-1 ahead of Game 4, and must have feared the worst when the dangerous Shane Larkin –– who scored a game-high 20 points –– guided the visitors to a seven-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

Despite a Barcelona response during the second period, Adrian Moerman's buzzer-beating three gave the Turkish side the advantage at half-time.

But the hosts' third-quarter blitz ultimately drove them towards an important victory –– Kyle Kuric, Chris Singleton, Kevin Seraphin, and Ante Tomic all posted double-points figures as Barcelona outscored Anadolu by 12 points in the second half.

CSKA book place in Final Four 

CSKA Moscow booked their place in the Final Four of European basketball's Euroleague with a game to spare on Friday, following a 92-83 victory against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.

That result that gave them an unassailable 3-1 lead in their best-of-five play-off series.

It was a disappointing night for the home fans, who saw their side fall apart in the fourth quarter after leading by nine points at half-time.

Baskonia still held a three-point advantage going into the final 10 minutes but were outscored 24-12. CSKA won comfortably in the end.

Nando De Colo had a game-high 27 points for the visitors and was backed up by Cory Higgins (19) and Nikita Kurbanov (15).

Vincent Poirier led the way for Baskonia with 21 points, but as a team, they collapsed when it mattered.

CSKA march on after the seven-time European champions have failed to appear in the Final Four since 2003.  

Turkish team Fenerbahce and Spain's Real Madrid are the other two teams which secured their tickets to the final four.