By Amy Samin

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv got a crucial win on Thursday night in an away game against Partizan Belgrade, and displayed top-notch defense for the entire duration.
It was the second straight game in which Maccabi kept their opponent under 60 points.
Maccabi’s record in the Euroleague now stands at 2 – 1 in Group A.
Jeremy Pargo, who was chosen game MVP by the website’s readers, led all scorers with 17 points and high percentage shooting.
Lior Eliyahu and Guy Pnini also had great games, coming through with key baskets in money time.

The starters for Maccabi were Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Doron Perkins, Chuck Eidson, Lior Eliyahu and Jeremy Pargo.
Facing off against them were Dragan Milosavljevic, Branislav Djekic, Petar Bozic, Dusan Kecman and Rasko Katic.

Maccabi opened with impenetrable defense, forcing lots of turnovers on the Serbians and keeping them to only 2 points for most of the quarter.
Meanwhile, on offense Eliyahu, Pargo and Perk scored repeatedly in the paint, but it was a nothing-but-net three pointer from Pargo with about four minutes left in the period that set the score at 18 – 2, Maccabi.
A three from James Gist stopped Maccabi’s scoring run and brought some life to Partizan’s offense, and the quarter ended with Maccabi up by thirteen, 23 – 10.

Maccabi got off to a slow start in the second quarter, but as so often happens, Perkins stepped up and made things happen, scoring under the basket and playing excellent defense.
Points from outside the arc by Oliver Lafayette narrowed the gap for Partizan to 30 – 22 with a minute and a half left in the period.
Maccabi stayed strong on defense, forcing a total of three shot clock violations on the Serbians in the half, but both teams had trouble finding the basket in the second period and the teams went into halftime with the score Maccabi 31, Partizan 22.

Both teams continued to falter on offense at the start of the third quarter until a shot from downtown by Pargo put Maccabi up by ten, 34 – 24.
Meanwhile, Maccabi kept a lock on the baskets, keeping Partizan to only four points for more than half of the period.
A three from David Blu at the top of the arc put Maccabi up by fourteen, 40 – 26 with four minutes remaining in the quarter.
Sofo continued to dominate the boards, and points from Pargo, co-captain Tal Burstein and Sofo, with just under two minutes remaining in the period, gave Maccabi a 45 – 31 lead.
Pargo muscled his way to an assist to Guy Pnini on the left wing for three with just under a minute left.
Blu’s spin-and-sink fade-away at the top of the arc helped close out the period with Maccabi leading 51 – 37.

Pnini kicked off the fourth quarter with another three, this time from the right corner, and Pargo added a snazzy reverse layup off a fast break to make it 56 – 39.
Kecman responded with a three of his own, which was answered with points off the glass by Pnini off an inbounds pass.
A defensive rebound and Hail Mary bomb by Perk to Eliyahu put Maccabi up 60 – 44.
The home team scored six unanswered points (most of them from the charity stripe), then Pnini drained another three as the shot clock ran out, making it 63 – 52 with four minutes left in the game.
Sofo, wrapping up thirty minutes of court time in the game, sank a dunk off an assist from Pargo to close out the game, giving Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv a 67 – 54 victory over Partizan mt:s Belgrade.

Box Scores
Maccabi: Pargo 17 points; Eliyahu 13 points; Pnini 11 points; Blu 8 points; Perkins 7 points, 8 rebounds; Sofo 6 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots; Eidson 3 points; Burstein 2 points.

Partizan:
Top scorers were Lafayette 11 points; Gist and Katic 9 points each.

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