ALBA Berlin upset Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 66-59 in Group E of the Euroleague Top 16 to snap the Israeli side’s five-game winning streak.
The German side started the third quarter with a 7-0 run and turned a minor 36-35 deficit at half-time to a 50-44 lead, heading into the fourth period and from there, they withstood Maccabi’s onslaught to collect their third win of the Top 16.
Jamel McLean hit several key baskets to lead the way in victory with 18 points and 6 rebounds, while Marko Banic scored 11 points with 5 rebounds for ALBA. Devin Smith collected 17 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists for Maccabi, who go to 5-2.
“It is a great win for us because in the last games we were not satisfied with how we played, especially with the loss in Frankfurt in overtime, so we definitely needed this one,” Banic said.
“We knew we had the chance to win because we saw from last time we played here that Maccabi is a great team, but if we put a good focus and intensity and stop their main players and play for 40 minutes we can win.”
Elsewhere in Group E, Barcelona beat Galatasaray 82-70 in Catalunya to improve to 4-3.
After a closely-fought first period, the hosts raced clear in the second to lead 52-39 and from there, they never looked back.
Tomas Satoransky paced the winners with 17 points. Bostjan Nachbar added 15, Justin Doellman and Ante Tomic each had 12 points and 9 rebounds. Zoran Erceg led Galatasaray with 18 points.
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Real Madrid produced a strong second half to comfortably see-off Zalgiris 88-71 in Kaunas.
The two teams were tied up at 47-47 at half-time before Rudy Fernandez hit 3 third-quarter three-pointers to help last season’s Euroleague runners-up pull away and improve to 6-1, with Zalgiris dropping to 2-5.
Fernandez finished with 17 points to lead Real Madrid.
In the only game in Group F, Olympiacos beat hosts Nizhny Novgorod 91-82.
Olympiacos got its second consecutive win and dropped Nizhny to 2-5. Georgios Printezis led the winners with 20 points. Vassilis Spanoulis added 13 points and 6 assists.
“I think it’s a big win for us, because it’s a very tough place to play and Nizhny Novgorod is a good team, especially offensively,” Printezis said. “We improved during the game and I think we had a very good fourth quarter.”
