The Yellow & Blue guarantee a return to the EuroLeague playoffs for the first time in five years, beating the first-placed Turkish squad. Scottie Wilbekin led all scorers with 21 points, Hunter finished as the MVP recording a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds
Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv clinched a 2020 EuroLeague playoff run in style. Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad defeated the best team in Europe, Anadolu Efes, 77:75 at home in Menora Mivtachim Arena that saw its streaks of 11 wins come to an end. Wilbekin led the charge scoring 21 points helping the Yellow & Blue register their 5th straight European win.
Maccabi opened the contest with Scottie Wilbekin, Yovel Zoosman, Elijah Bryant, Quincy Acy, and Othello Hunter in the starting five. Zoosman contributed early on both sides of the courts, helping the hosts take a double-digit advantage, recording 7 points on 100% from the field, grabbing 3 rebounds while leading Efes’s offense to record five turnovers in the first 7 minutes of the game, 19:4 Maccabi. The visitors reduced the lead in the final minutes of the first quarter, going on a 7:2 run, 21:11 after 10 minutes of play.
The Turkish momentum continued in the second quarter, Vasilije Micic and Krunoslav Simon cut the lead down to 3, but Aaron Jackson scored 6 points for the Yellow & Blue to keep them up in front, 31:26. The first placed offense in the EuroLeague showed up scoring 31 points in the second, as Shane Larkin and Adrien Moerman completed the turnaround for Efes, giving them their first lead of the night, as Tibor Pleiss helped open a 6 point advantage for the visitors going down to the half, 36:42.
The second half started in the same way the first ended, A technical free throw by Larkin and a three-pointer by Simon had Efes up by 10. However, Zoosman, Hunter, and Wilbekin diminished the deficit and even took the lead with a 12:2 Maccabi run, 51:50. Efes countered scoring 7 straight points, but the hosts second unit played well on defense to close out the third quarter, 57:59.
