Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv Defeats Alba Berlin 76 – 70

By Amy Samin

Maccabi’s starting five was comprised of Charles Gaines, Marcus Brown, Carlos Arroyo, Lior Eliyahu and Dror Hagag.
For Berlin, the starters were Casey Jacobsen, Steffen Hamann, Ansu Sesay, Adam Chubb and Immanuel McElroy.

Maccabi opened the game under the direction of Hagag and with emphasis on M. Brown on offense, and reached an early 6 – 2 lead after two and a half minutes of play.
After their fine start, Maccabi started making turnovers on offense, and the hosts began taking advantage of Maccabi’s soft defense; with three and a half minutes remaining in the period the game was close, with the score 11 – 10 in Maccabi’s favor.
For most of the rest of the quarter neither team scored, providing viewers with an uninspiring game, and the quarter ended with the score only 15 – 13, Berlin.

Maccabi continued to lumber along behind the hosts in the second quarter, missing shots and failing to get close to Alba.
Three minutes into the second quarter, a three-pointer by Jenkins put the score at 23 – 19, Berlin.
Solid play on defense and points by D. Brown and Gaines, who was Maccabi’s leading scorer in the first half, helping Maccabi erase the deficit and tie the score at 25 all with three and a half minutes left in the period.
Just as it looked like Maccabi would take control of the game, they started losing the ball and the momentum, but the game took another turn and became close until the end of the half, with a bucket by McElroy giving the hosts a meager lead, 32 – 30 at the buzzer.

Arroyo finally found his hot hand at the start of the third period, but Maccabi was weak on defense, allowing Alba to take their lead up to 40 – 34 after three minutes of play.
Things were not looking good for Maccabi when, from out of nowhere, three straight three-pointers from the Browns (two by Marcus, one by Dee) started a 12 – 0 scoring run and put Maccabi on top 46 – 40 with three minutes left in the period.
With the momentum on their side, the rest of Maccabi’s players joined the hot Brown in scoring, and the team tightened up defensively as well.
In the closing seconds of the quarter, Arroyo nailed one from outside the arc to set the score at 55 – 47, Maccabi.

At the start of the final period, Alba began a barrage of three-pointers, whittling away at Maccabi’s lead.
But Gaines, with an impressive performance under the basket on both ends, refused to allow the hosts to take back the game.
A string of dunks and baskets by the big man gave Maccabi a 62 – 53 lead after four minutes of play.
A technical foul called on Berlin’s coach helped Maccabi pad their lead, but a 7 – 0 scoring run by the home team made it a whole new ball game, with Maccabi’s lead chopped down to three, 67 – 64 with two minutes left in the game.
Two great plays by Marcus Brown – a three-pointer and an assist to Gaines – put Maccabi’s lead back up to 8 with one minute remaining and could have marked the end of the game, but two quick shots from downtown by Berlin turned the end of the game into a nail-biter. Maccabi sewed up the game thanks to four free throws by Arroyo and a beautiful block by Eliyahu at the other end.
Final score: Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 76, Alba Berlin 70.

Box Scores

Maccabi: Gaines 24 points, 12 rebounds; M. Brown 21 points (4 for 7 from three point range); Carlos Arroyo 14 points; D. Brown 11 points; Eliyahu 6 points.

Alba Berlin: Top scorers were McElroy and Chubb with 14 points each; Jenkins with 12 points.

After the game, Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon had this to say: “This wasn’t an easy game for either of the teams.
In such a low-scoring game, the important thing is to make as few mistakes as possible, and we knew that; that helped us win the game.
I hope that Alba, and especially Luka (Pavicevic, head coach for Alba Berlin) will enjoy the rest of the season win the German championship.”

Sharon Drucker, assistant coach for Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, said, “The players did exactly what we asked of them: fight as professionals for their own honor and that of the team as a whole.
Even with key players missing, the team stepped up the intensity.
Every player who entered the game gave his all.
Even though Alba wanted to win this last home game of the Top 16, we took the victory.”

“We played an away game against a home crowd of 10,000 and a team that very much wanted to win, but we controlled the game.
We only turned over the ball six times, and we went to the line 25 times. That’s how you need to play away games, with control, performance and heart.”

Marcus Brown, who scored 21 points, added, “We knew that we couldn’t qualify for the quarterfinals, but we still needed to do our jobs and represent the team with honor in a situation that isn’t easy.
The game started out really slow, but we knew how to pick up the pace and win.
I missed some easy shots in the first half.
When that happens, you’ve got to be patient and stick with the game plan.
It was strange playing without our big guys, D’or Fischer and Yaniv Green.
We wish them well and hope they make a speedy recovery.”

Luka Pavicevic, head coach for Alba Berlin, said, “I salute Pini and his team on a well-deserved victory.
We came to this game after a tough week of three games in four days, and that had an effect on us.
We couldn’t find our rhythm.
We made too many turnovers and our shooting percentages were awful.”