BELGRADE, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Russia's CSKA beat Serbian Red Star (Crvena Zvezda) 86-81 in the 25th round of the basketball Euroleague on Friday at the Belgrade Arena.

Carried by the cheering of 13,500 fans at the Belgrade Arena, the home team's Branko Lazic surprised the Euroleague champion with a three pointer at the start of the game, while Lorenzo Brown and Vladimir Stimac helped them to be one point ahead at the end of the period.

The CSKA took over the lead quickly in the second quarter, but Red Star's Stratos Perperoglou replied with a three-pointer for 22-20.

The guests returned into the match with an 8-0 run, but Kevin Punter and James Gist scored key points to keep Red Star in the match, while Billy Baron struck a three-pointer for 37-36 at halftime.

Daniel Hackett put the CSKA in front with a three-pointer early in the second half, and soon the Russian team gained a 5-point lead, and expanded it to 7 points thanks to Darrun Hilliard.

Red Star achieved a 5-0 series in a great performance of Punter at the beginning of the fourth quarter for 58-60, but Hackett once again separated CSKA with a three-pointer.

Make James' precise free-throws (14/18) made all the difference for the guest team to keep its advantage by the end of the game.

James ended the match as the top scorer with 29 points, followed by Hackett with 29. Baron scored 15 for Red Star.

This is the 17th victory for the CSKA this season, securing their 4th position in the Euroleague standings, while Red Star, with 15 defeats, move further away from mid-table.

Red Star will try to improve their score in Spain against Baskonia next week, while the CSKA welcome Barcelona in Moscow. Enditem

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