In front of a full house at the Nokia Arena, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv survived a nervy last few moments to see-off Bayern Munich 66-64 in the Euroleague Top 16, Group F.
Maccabi go 5-1 with this win, good enough for top spot in the group as they nearly threw away a late 10-point lead only to see Nihad Djedovic’s last-gasp effort miss the basket in the dying seconds, allowing the hosts to celebrate the win.
“This was one of the toughest games I have ever coached and one of our most important wins of the season,” Maccabi coach David Blatt said. “We were forced to make many adjustments during the game to win and I’m very happy we managed to do so, because the game could have well ended differently. We were exhausted at the end and I was very happy to hear the final buzzer.”
David Blu and Ricky Hickman each had 14 points to lead the winners.
For Bayern, who drop to 2-4 with this loss, Djedovic led them with 14 points.
Real Madrid joins Maccabi at the top of the group after they edged Lokomotiv Kuban 78-74 in Krasnodar.
The recently crowned Copa Del Rey winners were made to work hard for this win though. Greek veteran Ioannis Bourousis swatted away an attempt from Derrick Brown with the score at 76-74 allowing Real to waste the clock away. Sergio Rodriguez saw a gap in the Lokomotiv defence and he danced his way to the bucket to score with 12 seconds left to seal the win.
Rodriguez led Madrid with 15 points as they move to 5-1. Brown had a game-high 21 for the Russians, who go to 3-3.
The third game from Group F saw Zalgiris end their five-game losing streak after they beat Partizan 89-77 in Kaunas.
Both teams hold 1-5 records in the group and are a long way off the leaders but Zalgiris will gain some much-needed confidence from this comfortable win over the Serbian giants.
“It is a great win,” said Justin Dentmon, who led the winners with 21 points.
“We needed this one for our confidence. Before tonight, the third quarter was our biggest problem, but tonight we were much more aggressive and stopped the run of Partizan.”
Bogan Bogdanovic led all scorers with 24 points for Partizan.
Euroleague champions Olympiacos comfortably defeated Anadolu Efes 78-60 in Athens as they clinched their third straight win in Group E.
Vassilis Spanoulis led the Reds with 16 points as his side improved to 4-2 in the group, leading 24-12 after the first ten minutes and never looking back.
Zoran Planinic led a tame Efes with 13 points and 7 assists.
Unicaja Malaga scored a vital 87-71 win over Panathinaikos to move level with the Greek side in Group E to 3-3.
The Spaniards hit 15 three-pointers, en route to the win, which could vital for the head-to-head standings. For Panathinaikos, it’s a blow as they prepare for the big Top 16 clash next week with bitter rivals Olympiacos.
Nik Caner-Medley led the victors with 21 points, assisted by Ryan Toolson, who hit 20.
“We practiced hard, focused and renewed our confidence to become the team that we want to be,” Toolson said. “We have been in a tough situation and I didn’t play well in the Copa del Rey. I wanted to come here and show our fans that I want to win – and that we want to win as a team.”
Ramel Curry led the Greens with 14.
Fenerbahce won all four quarters as they breezed past Laboral Kutxa 98-64 at the Ulker Sports Arena.
Bojan Bogdanovic led the Turkish side with 17 points as they improve to 2-4 in the group while the Liga Endesa side drops further into last place at 1-5.
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