By Amy Samin

Chuck Eidson gave a stupendous performance in leading Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv to a vital 99 – 58 win over Polish team Asseco Prokom Gdynia in a game that was particularly strong on defense.
The guard, who was chosen MVP of the game, finished with 20 points, 5 steals and a lot of fighting spirit.
Guy Pnini and Doron Perkins each contributed 13 points.
Maccabi finished the first round of the regular season in the number one slot in Group A.

Maccabi’s starters were Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Doron Perkins, Chuck Eidson, Lior Eliyahu, and Jeremy Pargo, while Prokom led off with Daniel Ewing, Bobby Brown, Jan-Hendrick Jagla, Adam Lapeta, and Piotr Szczotka.
The visitors got off to a good start, jumping to a 7 – 0 lead after just under three minutes, but Perk’s steal and assist to Eliyahu for the dunk got Maccabi fired up.
A three by Pargo from the top of the arc was followed by one from Eidson to tie the score at 10 close to the halfway mark in the period.
Prokom responded with a bucket, and once again Eidson evened the score.
Maccabi’s demon defense was back in force, double teaming the Poles and using a full-court press to set the tempo.
A dish from Perk to – who else? – Eidson put Maccabi in the lead for the first time, 15 – 12 with just under four minutes on the clock.
Perkins, Pargo, and Pnini each added points from downtown, and Yaniv Green contributed a huge block on defense.
Pargo added a steal + assist to co-captain Tal Burstein for a dunk that put Maccabi up 29 – 19 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter got underway with points by Prokom, who narrowed the gap to 29 – 23 before Pnini sank a three-pointer from the corner.
Sofo muscled his way to the basket to put Maccabi up by eleven, 34 – 23.
Maccabi’s defense continued to keep the Poles in check with a nice mix of steals, and forced and unforced turnovers.
Another three from Perkins from the top of the arc gave Maccabi a fifteen point lead, 41 – 26 with less than five minutes left in the half.
Ewing did his best to help Prokom get back into the game, but he was no match for the combined talents of Pargo, Eliyahu and Eidson, who rounded out the scoring while Maccabi kept their opponent to only twelve points in the period.
At halftime, the home team was in control with a 48 – 31 lead.

Maccabi scored quickly at the start of the third quarter with points from David Blu (who broke the 1,000 point mark in Euroleague play) and Perk and a thrilling fastbreak/dunk combo from Pargo and Eidson.
Chuck added another dunk and Pargo cruised coast-to-coast to make it 60 – 31 near the halfway mark in the period.
The visitors finally got on the scoreboard 5+ minutes into the second half, putting an end to Maccabi’s scoring run.
The second half saw the teams trading baskets, though the Poles didn’t get any closer than twenty, 64 – 44 with just over a minute and a half remaining in the period.
Burstein sent a dazzling behind the back pass to Green, who scored a nice mid-range jumper.
By the end of the quarter Maccabi led 70 – 47.

The first three minutes of the fourth quarter saw a 12 – 0 scoring run by Maccabi, who did not let up even a little on defense.
In those minutes, Eidson and Pnini dominated the scoring, with points by both of them from three-point range, two steals and a dunk from Eidson and a putback by Guy; 82 – 47 to Maccabi.
J.R. Giddens finally broke the drought for Prokom, but there was no getting back into the game for the Poles, even with help from Ewing.
Richard Hendrix scored a couple of nice buckets, and a three from Blu made it 94 – 56 Maccabi with just over a minute left in the game.
Even with that large a cushion Maccabi wasn’t done providing thrills for their devoted fans.
In the final minute of the game, Burstein scored his 99th three pointer in the Euroleague, and team captain Derrick Sharp put the icing on this victory with a buzzer-beating long two from the corner, giving Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv a 99 – 58 win over Asseco Prokom Gdynia.


Box Scores
Maccabi: Eidson 20 points, 5 steals; Pnini and Perkins (6 rebounds) 13 points each; Pargo 12 points, 6 assists; Burstein 11 points; Blu 9 points; Eliyahu 7 points, 9 rebounds; Schortsanitis, Hendrix and Green 4 points each; Sharp 2 points.

Prokom: Giddens and Ewing 14 points each; Brown and Varda 10 points each; Hrycaniuk 4 points; Videnov, Jagla and Szczotka 2 points each.

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