Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv lost the chance to win the Intercontinental Cup when they lost 90-77 to Brazilian champions Flamengo. Pargo was outstanding with 28 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds. (Photo: FIBA Americas).
By Amy Samin
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv lost the chance to win the Intercontinental Cup when they lost 90-77 to Brazilian champions Flamengo. Jeremy Pargo was outstanding with 28 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds. MarQuez Haynes added 15 points, and Guy Pnini contributed 10 points.
Maccabi’s starters were Pnini, Pargo, Sylven Landesberg, Brian Randle, and Aleks Mari?. They got off to a great start with a 7-0 run that started with a triple by Pnini. Flamengo soon responded with an 11-0 run that put them up 11-7 halfway through the period. Alex Tyus, with a great assist by Pargo, put an end to the Brazilians’ run. Haynes, Randle and Pargo went to work, putting Maccabi back on top, but a three pointer by Flamengo returned the lead to the hosts 27-25 as the period came to an end.
Haynes gave Maccabi the lead in the opening seconds of the second quarter. Mari? held things down in the paint, protecting Maccabi’s lead 32-31after three minutes. From there Maccabi’s offense slowed down, and Flamengo took advantage by running to 41-32 thanks mostly to points from downtown. Jake Cohen and Pnini helped a little from the foul line, and Maccabi finished the half trailing by ten, 46-36.
Pargo opened the second half on fire, scoring four three pointers, and together with Pnini slashed Maccabi’s deficit to one, 56-55 after five minutes. The Brazilians woke up and reopened their lead to five, but Pargo delivered one of his classic one-handed dunks and sent a perfect alley oop pass to Tyus for a dunk that put Maccabi within three, 64-61 as the quarter ended.
As the fourth quarter got underway, a steal and dunk from Pargo once again put Maccabi within one, but from there the show belonged to Flamengo, who ran to 76-63 in three minutes. A pair of threes by Pargo and Landesberg made it 79-70 with three minutes left in the game. Randle fouled out after scoring on a fastbreak, and Haynes scored to cut the Brazilians’ lead to eight, but it was too little, too late as Flamengo defeated Maccabi 90-77.
