For the second time in 9 months, TAU Vitoria inflicted a home defeat to Msccabi Elite Tel Aviv in the Euroleague, 69-72.
After 16-16 in the first quarter Maccabi ran to a 39-24 lead in the second and at the half the score read 41-32. Maccabi kept the lead in the third (51-44) but started the final period with a one points lead 55-54. They increased it to 60-54. But then came a series of bad misses and turn-overs, well exploited by the bisitors for a 13-3 run and a 67-63 lead. Vujcic mad it 70-68 and with 9.4 seconds to go Shelef made only one free throw. Maccabi players commited the inevitable foul only in the last second, Calderon sank the two free throws and assured TAU’s win, Maccabi’s fifth loss in eight Euroleague games this season.
Fin Hanu Motola, in his last game for TAU, led them with 16 pts. Maccabi’s best player was Nikola Vujcic with 19 pts & 10 rbds.
An impressive 100-74 win for Montepaschi on the road in Kaunas vs Zalgiris. In Ljubljana, visiting team Unicaja Malaga led almost to the end, Cabezas made it 82-81 for the Spaniards but lefty point guard Ilievski, ran from coast to coast, penetrated between Bullock & Gurovic, and with his right hand scored the winning basket for Union Olimpija, 83-82. Panathinaikos won in Podgorica 92-84 over Buducnost.
