By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Facundo Campazzo scored eight out of his 11 points during the last two minutes of the games, Trey Thompkins also made two clutch free throws, and Jeffery Taylor sealed the deal with a steal, as Real Madrid got the 81-77 road win over Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv.
Madrid became the first team that managed to beat Maccabi in Tel Aviv this EuroLeague season with Campazzo also dishing eight assists and had four steals while Thompkins finished the night with 12 points and three rebounds.
Scottie Wilbekin scored 21 points for Maccabi, which dropped to a 14-8 record, while Madrid with 16-6 is tied in the second spot of the standings with CSKA Moscow and FC Barcelona. No other player of the hosts scored in double digits.
After the first half, the score was 38-36 in favor of Maccabi, but thanks to an 18-6 run, Madrid got a 54-44 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.
The guests entered the last period with an eight-point advantage (57-49) with Anthony Randolph having scored already his 19 points and Fabien Causeur adding 12. Both of them didn’t score after that.
Maccabi made a comeback and cut the lead to two (60-58) after their own 9-3 run, but Madrid kept the lead until the end.
With Elijah Brown making the steal and Tyler Dorsey making a three, Maccabi made it again a two-point game (77-75) with 27 seconds left. Still, Campazzo, with two free throws (79-75), kept Maccabi at a distance.
Amare Stoudemire played less than two minutes in the game and scored two points for Maccabi.
“We knew that they would come back.”
Madrid coach Pablo Laso was happy and not at all surprised by the effort of Maccabi: “It was a tough game, we did pretty well also in the first half, but we didn’t control the rebounds. We did in the second half; we knew that they would come back, and that’s why we were focused until the end”.
Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos agreed: “In the last two minutes, we gave our maximum. We fought, we scored some shots from outside, we fouled. Real was focused on the free-throw shooting. They didn’t miss or give us the chance to get something more, and unfortunately, we lost the game.”
Anthony Randolph returned from injury and ended up being the top scorer of Real Madrid. “He is a very important player for us,” added Laso. “He brings a lot to the team, he gives depth, and we have to be even more patient with him and not rush things.”
Randolph himself admitted that it was not easy staying out of the court: “It was tough not being with the team for this time. But I just stayed ready, always put in my work, and was ready to play. We did a good job on defense. In the first half, we gave them a lot of second-chance points. We did a better job of controlling that in the second half and that’s why we won here tonight. We just keep on going on. Our main goal is to be in the Final Four and have an opportunity to raise the trophy at the end of the season.”
Photo credit: EuroLeague