First title of the season: Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv won the Paris Tournament with a 69 – 63 victory over Galatasaray of Turkey. Nik Caner-Medley (14 points) was named MVP of the tournament.
By Amy Samin
In their final pre-season game, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Galatasaray 69 – 63 and claimed the Paris Cup. Nik Caner-Medley led five players in double figures with 14 points, and was chosen MVP of the tournament. The team will return to Israel Monday afternoon and begin preparing for Tuesday’s quarterfinal game against Hapoel Eilat in the Israeli Winner-Sal Cup tournament.
Starters in Sunday’s game were Shawn James, Nik Caner-Medley, Ricky Hickman, Yogev Ohayon, and team captain Guy Pnini. Former Maccabi player Milan Maćvan gave the Turkish team an early 3 – 0 lead and Maccabi had trouble finding a response until Pnini and David Logan put Maccabi up 6 – 5 halfway through the quarter. With two minutes remaining Galatasaray retook the lead, but Pnini scored from downtown to put Maccabi back on top, and Giorgi Shermadini added a bucket and 1. A three by Galatasaray’s David Hawkins tied the score 15 – 15 at the end of the period.
Caner-Medley kicked off the second quarter with points from outside the arc, while drives to the basket by Shermadini and Ohayon put Maccabi’s lead at 22 – 18. James displayed his skills at both ends of the court, and together with Caner-Medley put Maccabi up 29 – 20 five minutes into the period. The talented center added two more, and Hickman’s NBA-range three put Maccabi’s lead in double digits: 38 – 28 at the half.
Galatasaray opened strong in the third quarter, slicing their deficit in half, 38 – 33 after two minutes of action. Caner-Medley found the basket again, but the Turkish team downed two straight three pointers to reclaim the lead on a 15 – 3 scoring run, 43 – 41 at the halfway mark in the period. King of Clutch Pnini downed a key triple from the corner to put the lead back in Maccabi’s hands. Five key points from Logan and a three pointer from James in the corner made it 54 – 46, Maccabi, at the end of the third period.
Another three from Pnini got the final quarter started and put Maccabi’s lead back into double figures, but Galatasaray fought their way back to 58 – 55 after three minutes of play in the period. Maccabi responded with five points, but the Turks managed to stay close – though thanks largely to Hickman not too close. In the end, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv came away with a 69 – 63 win over Galatasaray and claimed their first title of the season.
BOXSCORE
Caner-Medley 14 points; Shermadini 12 Points; Pnini (3 of 4 from three, 6 rebounds) and James 11 points each; Logan 10 points; Hickman 7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists; Ohayon 4 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists. Itay Segev and Idan Zalmanson played but did not score. Moran Roth, Devin Smith, Sylven Landesberg and Lior Eliyahu did not play.
