The guard hit a clutch shot from deep with 10 seconds left to secure the crucial win over the greeks that gave the Yellow & Blue sole possession of fourth place in the standings. Saturday night: Gilboa/Galil in Menorah Arena
Four of the last five home games against Olympiacos were determined by one point, and the past two ended in the same fashion: a winner shot by Scottie Wilbekin. The guard scored 14 of Maccabi’s last 24 points, which included a clutch three in the final seconds that capped the comeback. With the 71:70 win over the Reds, the Yellow & Blue opened a one-game lead over CSKA Moscow for home-field advantage in the playoffs.
Maccabi opened with Scottie Wilbekin, Elijah Bryant, Deni Avdija, and Othello Hunter in Giannis Sfairopoulos’s starting five. Wilbekin fed his teammates early as Bryant scored 8 points in the first six minutes of play that to put the hosts up on top, 12:8. Sfairopoulos pulled Yovel Zoosman off the bench for his return coming back from injury as he contributed, scoring a beautiful layup and dishing an assist to Angelo Caloiaro that beat the buzzer for a 20:16 lead after one.
Shaquielle McKissic led the Reds on a 7:0 run that gave them a one-point advantage. However, Caloiaro, Bryant, and Dorsey helped Maccabi open up a double-digit lead scoring 14 consecutive points, 39:26. Brandon Paul’s three-pointer stopped the run, 39:29 at halftime.
The visitors cut the double-digit deficit and even took the lead 2 minutes to the end of the third quarter after scoring 11 consecutive points, 47:48. Wilbekin snapped the visitors run with 5 straight points that gave the Yellow & Blue a 2 point advantage going into the final 10 minutes, 52:50.
Wilbekin opened the fourth with another triple, but Sasha Vezenkov led the Greeks on a 12:0 run that handed them a 7 point lead midway through the final period, 55:62. A Bryant three cut the Reds advantage down to 3, but McKissic scored a three-point play to give the Reds some breathing room. With 25 seconds left on the game clock, Wilbekin nailed three free throws that decreased the lead down to 1. Baldwin hit one of two from the charity strike, and then in Maccabi’s final possession, Dorsey found Wilbekin, who drained the game-winning three, which proved to be the game-winner with 10.6 seconds to go.
