


Real Madrid kept its hat in the ring for the best record in the regular season with a 79-67 victory over FC Bayern Munich on Thursday night in the Spanish capital. Real never trailed after the opening minutes in improving to 23-10 on the season, which matched Olympiacos Piraeus for the top record with one round remaining on the schedule. Mario Hezonja went for 20 points on 5-of-10 three-point shooting to pace Los Blancos. Dzanan Musa added 11 points and Guerschon Yabusele contributed 10 points.
Bayern fell to 11-22 with the loss. Andreas Obst tied his career high with 7 three-pointers en route to 21 points to lead Bayern and Zylan Cheatham posted 20 points and 8 boards in just his fifth EuroLeague game.
Threes by Obst and Nick Weiler-Babb helped Bayern to an early lead, but Musa scored 5 points to ignite a 12-3 run that gave Real the lead for good. It was 19-13 after 10 minutes and Anthony Randolph sank a triple to start the second quarter. Cheatham was a force inside for Bayern and a barrage of threes kept the visitors close, with a buzzer-beater from Obst making it 40-36 at the break.
Real picked things up on defense early in the second half and Yabusele's first three made it a double-digit game, 49-38, midway through the third quarter. Walter Tavares and Hezonja kept the hosts cruising and Cheatham could only make it 56-44 through the end of the third quarter. A Petr Cornelie three followed by a Hezonja free throw got the lead as high as 16 for Real in the fourth. Bayern continued to battle, but the outcome was never in doubt after that.