Maccabi Tel Aviv lost to Fener 82:75

ONE System | 26/01/2021 20:00

Tonight (Tuesday), Maccabi Tel Aviv recorded its 12th loss in the Euroleague this season when it surrendered 85:75 to Fenerbahce in Turkey, in a game held as part of the 22nd round, and moved away from the long-awaited place in the playoffs.

Yannis Sapropoulos’ team, which came with an 11:10 balance and tried to put together a third win in a row and finally come out of the negative balance it carries from the third round, encountered an opponent who is in a great period and came into the game with six consecutive wins.

Fener himself did not start the game well. The visitors, in blue jerseys, scored four threes in the first quarter and led for the most part, including a 7-point lead towards the end, but Fenner responded with a 0:15 run that started in the closing seconds of the quarter and continued deep into the second quarter and ran for nine points. Sapropoulos’ team managed to get back to business, fell only half a point behind (36:35) and even took a point advantage with the start of the second half, but in a situation of 46:46 the Turks ran 2: 9 and took the advantage, which they did not lose until the end, when Maccabi did not Manages to get closer to below 4 points and towards the end the gap has already reached 12.

Yannis Sapropoulos (Itzik Belnitsky)

At Maccabi, which dropped to a balance of 12:10 and moved away from eighth place leading to the playoffs, Scotty Wilbkin stood out with a double-double of 15 points and 10 assists and Elijah Bryant was the leading scorer with 18 points, but apart from them none of the Maccabi players scored double digits. They also scored for the Yellows: Tyler Dorsey 9 points, John Dibertolomeo 8, Dragon Bender 7, Yuval Sussman 5, Othello Hunter and Ante Zizic 4 each, Oz Blazer 3 and Angelo Cloiaro 2 points.

The Turks, who climbed to a balance of 10:12, like that of Andulo in eighth place, were led by Jan Wesley with 18 points. Nando de Colo assisted with 16 points and so did Dishon Pierre with 15. Also scoring for Fener: Marko Godoric 11 points, Malachi Mahmutoglou 8, Lorenzo Brown 7, Jarl Eddie 3, Edgers Allenovs and Ahmet Dubrioglou 2 points each.

First quarter – 17:21 to Maccabi Tel Aviv

Fenerbahce opened with a top five with: Nando de Colo, Marko Godoric, Edgers Allnovs, Jan Wesley and Ahmet Dobrioglo. Maccabi Tel Aviv went up in the top five with: Scotty Wilbkin, Elijah Bryant, Angelo Cloiaro, Dragon Bender and Othello Hunter.

Dobrioglo scored the first points of the game, while on the yellow side Dragan Bender made an excellent start with two threes and raised Maccabi Tel Aviv to a quick 4: 6. In the following minutes every basket of the Turks was answered with a yellow basket, when Hunter, Bryant and Cloiaro entered the list of scenes and in a situation of 10:12 after 5 minutes the teams went down to a timeout. Bender raised to 3 points from the line, another basket from the Turks was answered by Sussman’s basket after messy minutes on both sides and a three by Jarl Eddie set 15:15, but Dorsey responded with a three of his own. Another three by Sussman increased the gap to 6 with a little more than a minute to the end of the quarter and the Turks managed to score just one more basket – 17:21 yellow at the end of the quarter.

Dragon Bender (Omri Stein)

Second quarter – 35:36 to Fenerbahce

The second quarter opened very badly for Maccabi Tel Aviv. The advantage went to the Turks after a basket by Wesley and a three by Pierre, the host defense worked great and after a dunk by Wesley and 21:24 to Fener, Sapropoulos took a timeout. It did not help, the Turks continued to produce stops on defense, the visitors looked scattered and Fenner closed a 0:15 run (from the last basket in the first quarter) en route to 21:30 after almost 4 minutes in the quarter, until Wilbkin stopped the run with points from the line. 6 minutes into the quarter Wilbkin scored Maccabi’s first field goal in the quarter, Dorsey reduced the gap to 3, 30:27, and later a beautiful penetration of Dorsey and Blazer from the line reduced the gap to 2. A triple by the Turks raised them to 30:35 but Blazer continued to score from the line and also provided a big roof that led to a Bryant three-pointer with the buzzer and only 35:36 to the Turks at the break.

Tyler Dorsey and Yannis Sapropoulos (Itzik Belnitsky)

Third quarter – 53:60 to Fenerbahce

The second half started with Žižić’s first points of the game, which gave Maccabi the lead, but the Turks took a 0: 8 run in the next two minutes and went up to 37:44 before Sapropoulos took a timeout. Two consecutive threes by Bryant and a three by Wilbkin in a minute and a half returned to 46:46, and this time the Turks took a timeout. In the following minutes, Sapropoulos’ team recorded four losses, which allowed the host to escape to 48:55 and later 50:57. A three by Cloiaro narrowed the gap to 4 points, but Godoric with a basket and a foul made it 53:60 at the end of the quarter.

Elijah Bryant (Omri Stein)

Fourth quarter – 75:82 to Fenerbahce

Dibertolomao opened the final quarter with a three and reduced the gap to 4 points, but Pierre, Wesley and Godoric with a three led a 0: 7 run that raised the gap to 11, 56:67, with 7 and a half minutes on the clock. Wilbkin’s three stopped the drift, Hunter reduced the gap to 7 and later Wilbkin, with another three, reduced to only 4 points, 70:66. But Pierre’s 5 consecutive points returned to 9 points, 66:75 Turkish, with 3 and a half minutes to go and Sapropoulos took a timeout. This time it did not help, Maccabi could not come close, and Jan Wesley put up a record advantage of 12 points, 68:80, less than two minutes to go. By the end the guest only managed to close the gap and at the end 75:82 to Fener.