The home teams had an undefeated start on the first major day of the Euroleague regular season, but champions Panathinaikos could only barely squeak past Lottomatica Roma 86-83.

GROUP A

Montepaschi Siena 80-52 Union Olimpija

The Italian champions marked their return to Euroleague play with a dominating display over Ljubljana. Siena outscored the visitors 30-8 in a brilliant second-quarter as Kristof Lavrinovic and Rimantas Kuakenas led all scorers with 21 and 22 points respectively thanks to a fine three-point shooting display. Terrel McIntyre was also impressive from beyond the arc and finished the night with 12 points, seven assists, and six steals.

Virtus VidiVici Bologna 81-75 Zalgiris Kuanas

Another Italian Euroleague newcomer showed that Italian clubs will be dangerous in 2007-08 with an impressive victory over the Lithuanian champions. Alan Anderson had an amazing European debut with 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

GROUP B

Cibona Zagreb 93-85 Efes Pilsen

Cibona rallied from 13 points down in the third quarter to secure an opening home win against Efes Pilsen in Croatia. Chris Warren and Larry Ayuso fuelled a 14-0 run that sparked the comeback victory and finished the night with 14 points and 17 respectively. Luska Andric added 19 as five Cibona scorers finished in double figures.

Aris TT Bank 87-83 Unicaja Malaga

Hosts Aris Thessaloniki put down a statement of intent in Group B with a come-from-behind victory over last year's third-place side Unicaja Malaga. With the hosts trailing by eight points going into the fourth quarter, Reyshawn Terry and Jeremiah Massey shared 15 straight points to lead the Greeks to glory. Massey led the victors with 20 points and 8 rebounds, while Terry dumped in 18 on his Euroleague debut.

GROUP C

Panathinaikos 86-83 Lottomatica

Roma were the only Italian side to fall on Wednesday night, but they put in an impressive fight against defending champions Panathinaikos in Athens - the site of the Green's Final Four triumph earlier this year. Roma point guard Roko-Leni Ukic - an off-season signing from Barca - hit a last second three-pointer that would have sent the game to overtime, but it was waved off for travelling and the holders narrowly escaped a shocking opening defeat.

Partizan Belgrade 81-78 FC Barcelona

Boosted by a boisterous home-crowd in the Serbian capital, Partizan won their Euroleague opener for the first time since the 2001-02 season. 21-year-old Montenegrin big-man Nikola Pekovic led the hosts with 29 points on 13-for-14 shooting and eight rebounds in a dominating Euroleague debut. Jaka Lakovic led a late comeback by the visitors and finished the night with a team-leading 21 points, but the Slovenian's efforts were not enough to overturn Partizan's lead in Belgrade.

Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport