German champions Brose Baskets Bamberg defeated Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv in a tough road loss for the yellows. Smith led Maccabi’s scorers with 19 points.
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By Amy Samin
German champions Brose Baskets Bamberg defeated Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv in a tough road loss for the yellows. Devin Smith led Maccabi’s scorers with 19 points. Brian Randle scored 11 points, and Taylor Rochestie added 10 points and 9 assists.
Maccabi’s starters were Devin Smith, Brian Randle, Jordan Farmar, Arinze Onuaku, and Yogev Ohayon. Onuaku in the paint and Smith from downtown put Maccabi up 10-3 four minutes into the game. The hosts scored 8 unanswered points and took the lead, but the advantage continued to change hands as Randle, Ike Ofoegbu, and Guy Pnini kept Maccabi close. The period ended with the Germans holding a 23-22 lead.
Brose Baskets stayed sharp in the second quarter, extending their lead to 32-26 after three and a half minutes. The pace slowed after that, until a hook shot by Randle and Smith from downtown cut Maccabi’s deficit to 34-31 with just under three minutes left in the half. Ohayon got into foul trouble, and Bamberg dominated in the paint, taking a 42-35 lead over Maccabi going into the break.
Smith, Randle, and Farmar played well as the second half got underway, and together with Trevor Mbakwe put Maccabi on top 47-46 halfway through the period. Smith and Randle played tough defense, but joined the ranks of players in foul trouble, and the Germans showed signs of coming back with points from outside the arc. Ohayon came back into the game and scored a key bucket, and a trey by Sylven Landesberg at the buzzer made it 57-51, Maccabi.
A 12-0 run by the Germans put them back in control of the tempo of the game and gave them a 63-57 lead three minutes into the fourth quarter. Ohayon finally stopped the run but the hosts continued to dominate, taking a 69-59 lead with four minutes left in the game. Maccabi couldn’t find their way out of the hole, and in the end Brose Baskets Bamberg defeated Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 77-66.
