After five straight EuroLeague wins, the Yellow & Blue tumble in Istanbul. Jake Cohen led Maccabi scores with 15 points. Next Thursday: on the road against Sarunas Jasikevicius’s Zalgiris Kaunas
Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv suffered a 77:99 defeat to Anadolu Efes, as part of the 16th EuroLeague fixture. The Yellow & Blue were tight to the Turkish squad in the first half, however, a host 22:2 run in the third quarter sealed the game. Jake Cohen filled in Tarik Black’s shoes scoring 15 points, while Wilbekin added 12 points in 17 minutes. Next Thursday, Maccabi will head out to Kaunas to face Sarunas Jasikevicius squad.
Giannis Sfairopoulos began the game with Scottie Wilbekin, Yovel Zoosman, Elijah Bryant, Quincy Acy, and Othello Hunter in the starting five. Vasilije Micic opened the contest with a shot from behind the arc, but the Yellow & Blue defense stepped up, Wilbekin hit two three’s a Quincy Acy slam gave the visitors a 13:8 advantage. Krunoslav Simon led a 7:0 Efes run to put them on top, 15:17. At 17:21, Wilbekin went to the locker room with an ankle injury as Simon kept leading his squad to 19:23 Turkish advantage after 10 minutes.
Deni Avdija and Jake Cohen were in charge of reducing the deficit, 27:29. Avdija later tied it up at 34:34, and Cohen scored next to put the visitors ahead. However, Rodrigue Beaubois ignited a 14:2 run that gave Efes a double-digit lead, 38:48. Wilbekin reentered the game for Maccabi, and a three-pointer by Yovel Zoosman on the halftime buzzer made it 41:48 at the break.
Wilbekin sank a three to start the second half, but the hosts took off on an 18:2 run that made it a 20 point game, 46:66. The Turkish squad kept on splashing shots from deep on it’s way to a 58:80 advantage going into the final quarter.
Maccabi started the fourth-period strong scoring the first five points, reducing the score to 63:80, but that didn’t help against the host’s hot night from deep. From that point on, the game went into garbage time until the final whistle, 79:99.
