In a close and dramatic game on the road in Germany, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Bayern Munich 94-92, securing third place in Group F and guaranteeing their spot in the Euroleague Top 8. Rice led Maccabi’s scorers with 18 points.
By Amy Samin
In a hard-fought game that came down to the final seconds, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Bayern Munich 94-92 in Germany and secured a spot in the Euroleague Top 8, where they will face EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in a best of five series. Tyrese Rice was outstanding with 18 points. David Blu and Alex Tyus each contributed 14 points. Ricky Hickman scored 13 points and Sofo Schortsanitis added 11 points. Maccabi finished the game with an impressive 13 of 18 from three point range.
Maccabi’s starting five were David Blu, Devin Smith, Yogev Ohayon, Ricky Hickman and Sofo Schortsanitis. The hosts opened strong, jumping to 6-2 after a minute and a half. Maccabi battled their way into the game thanks to points by Sofo, who closed it to 13-9, but Bayern scored five straight to reopen their lead. Three buckets from outside the arc by Blu, along with points by Alex Tyus, Sylven Landesberg and Tyrese Rice tied the score at 32 as the buzzer sounded to end the period.
The second quarter opened with a putback by Joe Ingles that gave Maccabi their first lead of the night, but once again Bayern responded with five straight points to retake the lead. Ingles fed Tyus a perfect alley oop, and then added a triple from the top of the arc to put Maccabi back on top 39-38 after two and a half minutes. The hosts responded, and the lead changed hands repeatedly for the next few minutes, with Hickman, Rice and Sofo keeping Maccabi close. Tyus gave Maccabi a 52-50 lead with just under two minutes left in the half, but Bayern put together a string of buckets and the teams headed into the break with the hosts leading 58-54.
The early minutes of the third quarter were fairly even, until back to back buckets by Sofo and Tyus put Maccabi within two, 62-60. The Germans reopened their lead, but four points from Hickman made it 70-67 with two and a half minutes left. A bucket and one by Tyus tied the score, and Hickman delivered from downtown to close out the period with Maccabi leading 74-71.
Three pointers from Guy Pnini and Blu (assist Ingles) gave Maccabi a ten point lead two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter, 83-73, then Ingles dished to Pnini for yet another trey. The Germans battled their way back into the game, but Pnini added more points from outside the arc to make it 90-84 with two and a half minutes left in the game. Bayern managed to pull within one point with seven seconds remaining, but Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv hung on to defeat Bayern Munich 94-92.
