Maccabi Defeats Frankfurt 95 – 69

By Amy Samin

Raviv Limonad, Andrew Wisniewski, Chuck Eidson, Maciej Lampe and Yaniv Green opened for Maccabi in the team’s final European preseason game, against Deutsche Bank Skyliners (Frankfurt).

In the first two minutes of the opening period, Maccabi jumped to a 5 – 2 lead; after three more minutes the score was 13 – 11, Maccabi.
Guy Pnini and Doron Perkins subbed in for Green and Wiz, and with three minutes left in the quarter, the Germans took the lead, 19 – 18.
The period ended in a 23 – 23 tie.

Maccabi coach Pini Gershon opened the second quarter with Limonad, Perkins, Pnini, Stephane Lasme and Alan Anderson.
Maccabi played strong and took a 31 – 26 lead with six minutes left in the period.
With 2:40 remaining, Maccabi still hung on to a five point lead, 37 – 31.
The half ended with Maccabi leading, 42 – 37.

Anderson, Perkins, Limonad, Green and Lasme opened the second half of the game.
A string of buckets by Anderson, plus a basket follow-up to an offensive rebound by Green gave Maccabi a 52 – 40 lead, three minutes into the third quarter.
Pnini and Eidson rejoined the game, and with their excellent play helped increase Maccabi’s lead to 64 – 46, with three minutes left in the quarter.
Lasme put a capper on the period with a basket that put the score at 74 – 50.

In the final period, Anderson kept on doing what he does best, and the score rose to 83 – 59.
Pini used the opportunity to try out various combinations of players; no matter what he did, the Germans were unable to respond. Pnini and Lampe went to town close to the end of the game, setting the final score at Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 95 – Frankfurt 69.

Box Scores

Maccabi: Anderson 25 points, Lampe 18 points; Pnini 13 points; Limonad 10 points; Eidson 8 points; Wisniewski 7 points; Lasme 5 points; Perkins 3 points; Mekel, Green and Fischer 2 points each.

Frankfurt: Top scorers were Derrick Allen with 23 points; Qarran Calhoun and Seth Doliboa 11 points each.

Maccabi assistant coach Sharon Drucker: “It’s been a tough journey; we played in two different countries, held many practices, and played five games.
We planned for it to be a busy time, because we expect to be even busier in the future.
We won this game in the third quarter, when we broke away from them.
Everyone played and has a part in the victory, but the players know that not everyone will play in every game in the future.
We have a broad bench.
This has been a really positive experience.
Everyone worked hard, and improved their both their physical conditioning and the team dynamics.
You can see that the players really love the game.
Now we’re coming home to Israel, where really everything is still ahead of us.
We get started next week and we really want to take the Winner Cup.”

[email protected]