After the big win over Anadolu Efes, the Yellow & Blue run comes to an end in Belgrade. Dorsey led all Maccabi scorers with 19 points
Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv had its five-game winning streak snap on Friday night after a 76:92 defeat to Crvena Zvezda Mts Belgrade in the Serbian capital. The hosts set the pace early, hitting from all cylinders, enjoying a great night from beyond the arc. The Yellow & Blue had a difficult time stopping the Reds in the third quarter as they opened a comfortable double-digit lead, which was enough until the final buzzer.
Maccabi began the game with Scottie Wilbekin, Yovel Zoosman, Elijah Bryant, Quincy Acy, and Othello Hunter in the starting five. Billy Baron set the tone in the first quarter, hitting four three-pointers while scoring 14 of the Serbians first 17 points. James Gist added another shot from deep that increased the hosts lead up to 9, 14:23. Wilbekin and Jake Cohen answered on the other, cutting the advantage within five, but Baron scored his 16th point of the quarter, and after the first ten minutes, Belgrade led 20:27.
Baron continued his incredible performance knocking in his 5th three in as many tries keeping Red Star’s lead intact. Dorsey got it going with a triple, and Elijah Bryant hit his first shot of the night that diminished the hosts advantage down to 3, 38:41. However, Kevin Punter knocked in five consecutive points that ramped up the lead back to 8 before Wilbekin’s three-pointer made it 43:49 at the half.
The Serbian squad opened the second half strong while the Yellow & Blue couldn’t find answers to an 18:2 run led by Vladimir Stimac, Baron, and Gist that increased the hosts advantage up to 19. It seemed that after the fierce battle against Anadolu Efes on Wednesday, the Yellow & Blue couldn’t find the resources to handle Dragan Sakota’s squad as Punter extended the margin to 21 points, 58:79 heading into the final period.
Garbage time was written all over the fourth quarter, Punter continued his great night, as Gist added more points to his final stat line. Dorsey guided Maccabi to put together a 8:2 run in the finals minutes that didn’t help in the end, 76:92.
