By Amy Samin

After a month and a half of no home Euroleague games, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv more than made up for it with a crushing defeat of Lottomatica Virtus Roma, 99 – 58 in week 2 of the Top 16.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis was unstoppable under the basket, scoring 19 points and pulling down 10 rebounds on his way to a 28 index points ranking; Lior Eliyahu had 18 and Jeremy Pargo added 16 points, including an amazing dunk.
Doron Perkins finished the night with 9 points and 9 assists; as a team, Maccabi grabbed 50 rebounds and dished out 23 assists.
In the other Group F game, Barcelona defeated Ljubljana 68 – 67 in Slovenia.

Coach Blatt led off with Pargo, Perkins, Sofo, Eliyahu and Chuck Eidson, while Roma’s starting five were Darius Washington, Andrea Crosariol, Luigi Datome, Nihad Djedovic, and Vladimir Dasic.
Maccabi jumped out to a 7 – 0 lead before the end of the first minute of the game; to their credit, Rome came back and scored six straight points to pull within one, 7 – 6 after points by Washington.
Sofo fought his way to the basket, and Eliyahu scored immediately after a missed and-one to put more space between Maccabi and the visitors, 11 – 6.
Perk demonstrated his tremendous ability on both ends of the court, including a behind-the-back dish to Guy Pnini whose bucket put Maccabi up 22 – 15 with three minutes left in the period.
Pargo scored 8 straight points (including two three-pointers) to end the quarter with Maccabi leading 30 – 18.

Rome scored a quick basket in the first seconds of the second quarter, but Pargo threw down a huge one-handed dunk and-one, then dished to Pnini for a long three from the left wing.
Perk added three from the other side and Sofo’s points in the paint made it a 21 point lead, 41 – 20 two and a half minutes into the period.
The Romans stepped up the intensity but were more than matched by Maccabi, with Eidson and Perkins executing points, steals and assists on the way to a 49 – 24 lead with three minutes left in the half.
Perk dunked off a steal/assist from Eidson, then paid it forward with a steal/assist to Pargo for the reverse dunk; 53 – 27 Maccabi.
Milan Mačvan scored from mid-range and Pargo scored from the charity stripe to extend the home team’s lead to thirty.
At the end of the half, the score was 57 – 31.

The third quarter got off to a relatively slow start, but Sofo was on fire, scoring repeatedly in the paint and shutting down Rome’s offense under the basket.
After three and a half minutes the score was 63 – 36.
Sofo and Eliyahu took turns scoring and put Maccabi up 71 – 38 with three minutes left in the period.
Even with a beyond-comfortable lead, Maccabi’s defense didn’t let up, employing a full court press in the final minute of the quarter.
At the end of three periods, Maccabi led by thirty-one, 75 – 44.

All season coach David Blatt has talked about the need to keep up the intensity for the full forty minutes, and that’s exactly what his players did in the final quarter of the game.
Co-captain Tal Burstein, Pnini and Mačvan scored in the early minutes, including a catch-and-shoot by Burstein from the corner (assist Pnini) that extended Maccabi’s lead to forty, 86 – 46 after three and a half minutes.
Meanwhile, Maccabi’s defense kept Rome to only two points for the first half of the period (and kept Rome under fifteen points for each of three of the game’s four quarters).
Eliyahu and Burstein continued to score, but the final points were sent special delivery by team captain Derrick Sharp, giving Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv an impressive 99 – 58 victory over Lottomatica Virtus Roma.

Box Score:

Maccabi: Schortsanitis 19 points, 10 rebounds; Eliyahu 18 points; Pargo 16 points, 5 assists; Perkins 9 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 3 steals; Pnini and Burstein 9 points each; Eidson 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals; Mačvan 6 points; Blu 3 points, 9 rebounds; Sharp 2 points.

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