The Yellow & Blue European winning streak comes to an end with the loss in Belgrade. Dorsey’s 14 points and Bryant’s 12 weren’t enough against the aggressive Serbian squad. Sunday: Villeurbanne at home
Game Recap:
Maccabi started the contest with John DiBartolomeo, Scottie Wilbekin, Angelo Caloiaro, Omri Casspi, and Ante Zizic, while Jordan Loyd, Langston Hall, Branko Lazic, Marko Simonovic, and Landry Nnoko opened for Red Star.
The Yellow & Blue struggled to score in the first three minutes, which led to a quick 6:0 Serbian start, but a Wilbekin alley-oop assist to Zizic got it going as DiBartolomeo rejected Loyd and later completed the 7:0 run with a shot from behind the arc, 7:6.
Wilbekin and Dragan Bender completed three straight Maccabi triples as Jones dished a typical assist to Elijah Bryant under the basket and laid in two, but the hosts hit 3 free throws to close out the quarter, 21:15.
Jones continued his effective minutes as the guard found Oz Blayzer for an open corner triple and later drove to the basket for another layup opening a 10 point margin, 25:15. The Reds shifted the momentum with 6 unanswered points as Hall, and Aleksa Uskokovic cut the score down to 4.
Bryant ran down Loyd and took the ball from his hands leading to a Tyler Dorsey three-pointer, which led to a quick 7:0 stretch and an 11 point advantage. But once again, Red Star diminished the Yellow & Blue margin with a 12:2 run as Ognjen Dobric, and Nnoko directed the comeback, 34:33 at halftime.
Bryant knocked down a three-pointer, but the hosts opened the second half more aggressively and took the lead with a 13:0 run thanks to Dejan Davidovac and Loyd, 39:48. Zizic was Maccabi’s primary point producer in the third, completing a three-point play and adding more from the charity strike, but Davidovac drove to the rack and laid it in to beat the third-quarter buzzer, 45:53.
Dorsey hit a triple to open up the final 10 minutes, but Loyd and Davidovac responded with shots from behind the arc extending the Reds advantage up to 13, 48:61. Maccabi tried to make a run in the fourth quarter as Bryant completed a three-point possession, and Dorsey drilled back-to-back threes, reducing the edge down to 6.
Although Dorsey put the offense on his back, finishing a steal with a slam, the Yellow & Blue couldn’t take advantage of the momentum as Dobric’s multiple three-pointers and Nnoko’s sixth offensive board, and tip-in secured the Serbians 10th win this season. Crvena Zvezda Belgrade beat Maccabi 76:64.
