The Yellow & Blue advance to the finals of the “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” tournament after defeating the home greeks behind great performances by Dorsey, Wilbekin and Black. Tomorrow they’ll face Ettore Messina’s Armani Milano (Sunday, 18:00)
Scored for Maccabi: Tyler Dorsey 18 points, Tarik Black 14 points & 7 rebounds, Scottie Wilbekin 11 points, 5 reb & 5 assists, Elijah Bryant 11 points, 6 reb & 4 steals, Othello Hunter 10 points & 7 reb, Nate Wolters 9 points, Jake Cohen 7 points & 4 reb, Deni Avdija 2 points, Yovel Zoosman 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Sandy Cohen and John DiBartolomeo played but didn’t score. Scored For Panathinaikos: Tyrese Rice 17 points, Jimmer Fredette 15 points, Deshaun Thomas 11 points and Ioannis Papapetrou 10 points.
Coach Giannis Sfairopoulos started the game with Scottie Wilbekin, Nate Wolters, Deni Avdija, Tarik Black and Jake Cohen. Wilbekin in his first game back led the team early with a corner three and another bucket inside to give Maccabi a 10:2 start, forcing the greens coach Argiris Pedoulakis to call a timeout. The greeks came back stronger out of the timeout, but Elijah Bryant with excellente minutes off the bench gave the yellows a 16:9 lead. Maccabi was close to going up by double digits late in the first quarter, but the home team was able to chew off the deficit to 24:20 after one.
Maccabi with four straight points, got into a rhythm early in the second quarter to go up 28:20. Jake Cohen with a beautiful layup, Tyler Dorsey hit a corner three, and great stops on defense that led to quick fastbreaks gave the Yellows a convincing 48:36 lead. Similarly to the first quarter, Panathinaikos was able to cut the lead by half, but another Dorsey three-pointer gave Maccabi a 54:45 lead at half time.
Before the start of the third quarter, with the applause of the home crowd, Maccabi’s president Shimon Mizrahi was recognized for his contribution to basketball. Ex NBA player Jimmer Fredette took control of the duties for the greeks hitting a three-pointer bringing the score to 59:52. But on the other end, Scottie Wilbekin with a three-pointer and Nate Wolters with a bucket on the buzzer brought the lead back to double digits, giving the Yellow & Blue their biggest lead so far 70:56 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, Maccabi took their leg off the gas peddle, the greens attempted to erase the lead, but it was too late for them. Maccabi beats Panathanikos 82:71, as they’ll face Milano in the finals Sunday.
