Maccabi and Khimki traded blows in the first half yet in the second the squad in yellow and blue imposed their will to claim the home win. Ray scored 17P for the winners
Coach Sfairopoulos’ starting five: Scottie, Kane, Caloiaro, O’Bryant
and Black. Thomas was the first to score in the game but Johnny and Tarik answered as Maccabi took the 6:4 lead. With the game tied (8:8) Maccabi started to capitalize on the offensive end taking the 12:10 lead. Mickey and Croker gave Khimki the edge but Kane tied the game from the free throw line (16:16). Croker managed to beat the buzzer to give Khimki the 16:18 lead at the end of the first quarter.John-Di scored from deep at the beginning of the second quarter to give Maccabi the 19:18 edge but Khimki reacted with a 5:0 run forcing coach Sfairopoulos to call for a timeout (19:23). O’Bryant and Johnny scored back to back threes to stay within a striking distance as the scoreboard showed (25:27). Scottie scored six points to give Maccabi the 33:29 lead with 02:21 remaining in the first half. Wilbekin had the final say in the first half from the free throw line to give Maccabi the 35:31 lead at
half time.Scottie was also the man at the beginning of the third as he increased the yellows’ lead to 38:31. Tarik and Angelo completed an 8:0 run for Maccabi before Jenkins scored Khimki’s first points in the third quarter (43:33). Both teams traded blows again with Maccabi keeping their
double digit lead (48:38). Maccabi’s offense started to fire on all cylinders with Zoosman and Ray scoring from deep continuing with Tyus connecting with Kane for a thunderous dunk as coach Sfairopoulos’ squad took the 58:42 lead. Ray was unstoppable from deep as he managed to beat the buzzer with another three to make it 61:42 as the third quarter came to an end.Vialtsev started the fourth quarter with a
three point play but Kane Ray and Kane made it 64:45. Vialtsev and Mickey completed a 5:0 run as Coach Sfairopoulos called for a timeout (64:50). Caloiaro and Wilbekin increased Maccabi’s lead, Monia reacted from deep but Maccabi kept their composure increasing their lead to 74:54 from which Khimki couldn’t recover as the hosts grabbed the 7:63 home win.
