The Yellow & Blue entered the last 10 minutes down by three after erasing an 18 point deficit, but the Greeks ran away with the victory, moving Maccabi further away from the playoff picture. Saturday: against Ness Ziona
After last week’s victory over Valencia, the Yellow & Blue hoped to build a winning streak, but they didn’t have solutions for the Greek squad throughout most of the contest. Scottie Wilbekin was the only Maccabi scorer who exceeded double figures finishing the night with 14 points. Giannis Sfairopoulos’s unit needs to overcome the defeat quickly as Saturday they host Ness Ziona in the Israeli Winner League.
Game Recap:
Maccabi started with Chris Jones, Scottie Wilbekin, Omri Casspi, Angelo Caloiaro, and Othello Hunter, while Howard Sant Ross, Mario Hezonja, Giannis Papapetrou, Aaron White, and Konstantinos Mitoglou opened for Panathinaikos.
The Greens were in control in the first minutes of the contest as Hezonja and White led to an 11:3 margin. Jones tried to get the Yellow & Blue going knocking down back-to-back buckets in the paint, but that didn’t stop the hosts momentum as While capped his 5 consecutive points with a shot from behind the arc as part of a 12:0 run. A Tyler Dorsey steal led to easy points concluding a tough first quarter, 9:25.
John DiBartolomeo and Caloiaro ignited the offensive rhythm as the forward dished two straight assists, one of them to the captain who drained a triple, 18:34. Wilbekin hit two shots from behind the arc for his first points of the night, and Zizic found Cohen for an easy slam, but Maccabi had a hard time stopping White and Mitoglou, who retained a double-digit margin, 30:43 at halftime.
Jones read a Greek pass, finishing with a layup on the other end, and Bryant knocked down a three-pointer cutting the Greens edge to single digits, 35:43. Kattash’s squad responded with 8 unanswered points as Sant Ross and Papapetrou drilled back-to-back corner triples, regaining a double-digit advantage.
The Yellow & Blue locked down defensively, stopping the hosts on 2 points in the final five minutes of the quarter, which led to a 15:2 stretch. Wilbekin, Dorsey, and DiBartolomeo hit shots from behind the arc as Zizic tipped in two on the verge of the third-quarter buzzer, diminishing the deficit down to 3, 55:58.
The quarter break ended Maccabi’s momentum as they couldn’t find points in the first five minutes of the quarter, which helped Mitoglou and Pao regain a double-digit margin, 55:67. Wilbekin hit a floater for his 14th point, and Dorsey added a layup, but that didn’t stop the Greens from the win as Papapetrou shot in two straight triples. Panathinaikos beats Maccabi 81:63.
