Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv needed an inadvertently made free throw to secure a 93-92 win over Darussafaka Dogus in Israel and break a six-game slide in the EuroLeague.
With the hosts up 93-90 with 0.5 seconds left, Bradley Wanamaker was fouled outside the arc. To the joy of the Maccabi fans, he missed the first but made the second. With the plan of purposely missing his final shot, the American put the third foul shot away, seemingly accidentally which secured the win for the Israeli giants, putting them at 6-10.
“It was a great win for us, especially in front of these fans,” said Maccabi’s Sonny Weems, who led the winners with 24 points. “They deserve it, we deserve it, this organization deserves it. Everybody deserves this win. They are a really aggressive team, a really good and they never go away. But we stuck with it at the end.”
Will Clyburn paced a balanced Darussafaka lineup that featured six scorers in double figures with 17 points and eight rebounds. Teenager Ante Zizic tallied 14 points and nine rebounds.
Brose Bamberg made a statement by thrashing Barcelona 85-65 at thus claiming the head-to-head over their Catalan rivals.
Barcelona were only able to beat Bamberg by four points when the two teams last met and with both sides owning 7-9 records this season, this result could go a long way to possibly deciding a post-season spot.
“Absolutely a great game, we start well the year,” said Bamberg’s Nicolo Melli. “After a win at Galatasaray, we knew if we want to, let’s say, complete our effort, we needed to win this game. We did it, and we did it in a good way, but it is still long ways to go. A lot of games to go. We have to stay focused, keep balance, but we can enjoy tonight because we had an incredible game.”
Darius Miller hit 6/8 three-pointers on his way to 20 points for Bamberg. Tyrese Rice hit 19 for the visitors, but no-one else managed to escape single digits.
Anadolu Efes claimed the league double over fellow Istanbul rivals Galatasaray as they beat them 84-73 at the Abdi Ipecki Arena.
The win improved Anadolu Efes to 8-8, while Galatasaray dropped to 4-12 in the standings.
Efes took the lead for good midway through the second quarter, but did not pull away to a double-digit margin until late in the third quarter. Galatasaray kept threatening, but Efes prevailed as Bryant Dunston led the way with 17 points.
Baskonia raced to a double-digit lead after the first quarter and never looked back as they eased to a 102-70 win over Unics Kazan in Vitoria.
Baskonia improved to 11-5 in the Euroleague regular season standings, while Unics dropped to 6-10.
Rodrigue Beaubois led the winners with 29 points in just 19 minutes by hitting 7/8 two-point shots and 5/8 three-pointers.
