Grizzlies coach David Joerger said afterward that he is optimistic

LONDON -- Arsenal held on with 10 men to draw 0-0 at Besiktas in the Champions League playoff round Tuesday, while Bayer Leverkusen is better placed to reach the group stage after winning 3-2 at FC Copenhagen. Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey was sent off with 10 minutes left in the first leg match in Istanbul after being shown a second yellow card for tugging Oguzhan Ozyakups shirt. "For me its unbelievable to get the second yellow card when you see the kind of fouls they have made today. Its not serious," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said on Britains ITV television. The London club, which has played in every group stage since the 1998-99 season, still nearly grabbed a late winner when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains shot was turned onto the post. The highest-scoring match of the night was in Denmark with Leverkusen holding the away goals advantage going into next Wednesdays home leg. The other matches saw Athletic Bilbao draw 1-1 at Napoli, Red Bull Salzburg beat Malmo 2-1 and Steaua Bucharest edge Ludogorets Razgrad 1-0. At the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, a familiar face nearly embarrassed Arsenal from the kickoff. Former Chelsea striker Demba Ba lobbed the ball from the halfway line and it was looping into the top corner until goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pushed it onto the crossbar. With striker Olivier Giroud lacking cutting edge in front of goal and new signing Alexis Sanchez denied by Tolga Zengins save before halftime, Arsenal rarely looked like repeating its 3-0 victory across Istanbul against Fenerbahce in last years playoff round. Besiktas came closest in the second half when Olcay Sahan curled a shot wide after breaking into the box. And, after Ramseys red card, Besiktas coach Slaven Bilic also saw red in a heated conclusion on the touchline. "Its one of the most physical games we have played in the Champions League," Wenger said. "We had the chance to win the game, but unfortunately we couldnt do it." Next week at the Emirates, although Ramsey will be suspended, Wenger is set to deploy German World Cup-winning trio Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski again after their break. "They will be without Ramsey who for me is the top man in the team," Bilic said. "We are still alive and we go to the Emirates with even more confidence ... we have a plan we have a dream." In Copenhagen, Stefan Kiessling took just five minutes to put Leverkusen in front, but the hosts hit back with Mathias Jorgensen nodding in an equalizer from a corner and Daniel Amartey heading them in front in the 13th minute. Parity was restored in the 31st when Karim Bellarabi knocked the ball into the net and Son Heung-min secured Leverkusens valuable away win just before half time after meeting Hakan Calhanoglus throughball. In Austria, goals from Franz Schiemer and Jonatan Soriano looked to have given Salzburg a clear cushion going into the second leg until Emil Forsberg pulled one back for Malmo in the 90th minute. Iker Muniains away goal could also prove decisive for Bilbao even though Gonzalo Higuain ensured Napoli drew 1-1 at home. The only goal of the night in Romania took until the 88th minute to come, with Alexandru Chipciu, who had already missed a penalty, striking into the net this time for Steaua against Ludogorets of Bulgaria. Rod Carew Jersey . "We cannot stay the same way the whole season long," said Reyes. "This is not acceptable. Something needs to change because were a better team than what were showing right now. Its a long season and we just need to continue to push." Its been a frustrating week for the ballclub. Devin Smeltzer Twins Jersey .C. United on Saturday night and boost the Unions playoff hopes. Nick DeLeon scored in the 36th minute for United (3-23-6), which had ample opportunities to build on its lead but went its 10th straight match without a victory. https://www.cheaptwins.com/ . Toronto ended an 0-4-0 skid with Sundays shootout win over visiting New Jersey, but the club could have a difficult time making it two victories in a row tonight. The Maple Leafs have dropped three straight and 11 of the last 12 regular- season meetings against Boston overall and the Bruins have claimed six straight in Beantown. Minnesota Twins Store . Austin Watson, Scott Ford, Filip Forsberg and Mark Van Guilder had the other goals for the Admirals (30-21-12). Scott Darling made 30 saves for his 10th win of the season. Gary Gaetti Jersey . Bryce Harper? He also came into Wednesday without a long ball and hadnt driven in a run. He was hitting .160, had nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits and was dropped to seventh in the batting order.ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Memphis Grizzlies have a magic number when it comes to making the playoffs -- and they hit it on Wednesday night. Zach Randolph had 20 points, Courtney Lee added 17 and the Memphis Grizzlies held off the Orlando Magic 86-81 for their 29th win of the season. The Grizzlies have made the playoffs every season when they win 29 or more games before the All-Star break. Theyve also never made the post-season when winning fewer than 29 games before the seasons midpoint. The Grizzlies led by as many as 13 points in the second half before having to fight off several Magic runs down the stretch. They survived, but did lose centre Marc Gasol in the third quarter when he limped off the court after aggravating a left knee injury. "We just stuck with it was the most important thing," Grizzlies forward Tayshaun Prince said. "When Marc went out, everybody was kind of hurt by it. ... But this is definitely a good win going into the break." Gasol didnt appear to be in a lot of pain, but he will have an MRI on the knee as a precaution. Grizzlies coach David Joerger said afterward that he is optimistic. "Im really proud of our first half of the season, and then to come out and lose Marc for a little bit -- hopefully not a lot," he said. Memphis beat the Magic for the sixth straight time and enters the break having won eight of its last 11. Nik Vucevic had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Magic. Tobias Harris added 13 points. But they committed 14 turnovers that led to 19 Memphis points. Orlando had won three straight and five in a row at home. "It was our game, I thought, right there. We let one slip away," Harris said. Following the Grizzlies win over Washington on Tuesday, Joerger acknowledged his team was mentally tired. It showed as the game wore on Wednesday against Orlando. First they lost Gasol, then after leading by as many as 13 points in the first half, the Magic stormed back and briefly took the lead in the third quarter. Orlando trailed by three entering the final period. Magic coach Jacque Vaughn began the fourth with the young, quick lineup of Harris, Victor Oladipo, ETwaaun Moore, Maurice Harkless and Kyle OQuinn that had been so effective in back-to-back wins, over Oklahoma City and Indiana Orlando surged at the outset, but Memphis weathered the rally and got two free-throws from Randolph that put the Grizzlies up 78-77 with 4 minutes to play.dddddddddddd Memphis was leading 80-79 when Jameer Nelsons 3-pointer bounced off the back of the rim and was rebounded by the Grizzlies. Lee got it and raced into the front court before a clear-path foul was called on Arron Afflalo with 35.7 seconds left. The call was upheld after an official review. Lee connected on both free throws to make it 82-79. Memphis retained possession and wound down the clock before getting Randolph free in the paint for a layup to stretch the lead to five. The Magic called timeout, but they could only muster a long 3-pointer on the other end by Oladipo that caromed off the backboard and was rebounded by Memphis. The final review was one of three in the final 1:26 of the game. "The refs did the right thing in going back and looking at a couple of them so if it happens, Id rather have them go back and look at it than just make the call and stick with it," Lee said. "One of them, they gave us the ball and another one was a clear-path foul. So it was 2 for 3. Ill take it." Vaughn said hes looking forward to seeing how his team responds with six of their first seven on the road after the break. "I think we get an immediate test," Vaughn said. "Back to the grind we go and a great challenge for our group to see if we can take some of the things we learned at home ... and see if we can kind of duplicate it on the road." Joerger said the break is coming at the perfect time. "Were exhausted. Were making mistakes toward the ends of games that are just mental mistakes ... those are exhaustion mistakes," he said. "It was a slugfest, I thought at halftime maybe wed get to 84. We got 86 so Im fired up." NOTES: The Grizzlies improved to 6-4 this season in the second night of a back-to-back. ... Memphis G Mike Conley missed his seventh straight game with a sprained right ankle. ' ' '