By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Bouncing back after the home defeat against Crvena Zvezda, Fenerbahce found an outstanding season-high and club-record 109-74 victory against Maccabi Tel Aviv but couldn’t celebrate in front of its fans in Istanbul, as the game took place on the neutral court of Panevezys’ Kalnapilio Arena due to security reasons.
Sarunas Jasikevicius saw an offensive contribution from several of his players, as six of Fenerbahce‘s roster members ended the game scoring in double-digits. Tyler Dorsey led it with 21 points. “We didn’t let up in the second half even though he had a comfortable lead. I guess we had some good luck coming to Lithuania. We kept our foot on the gas”, he commented in the post-game flash interview.
Johnathan Motley followed with 17 points, Georgios Papagiannis powered 14 points and 6 rebounds, and Scottie Wilbekin had 14 points and 6 assists. “It was an unexpected trip back home to Lithuania, but we really took care of business. We were playing hard for the longest period of time, we were pretty solid all throughout the game. We go home happy”, Sarunas Jasikevicius commented after the victory.
On the losing end, Bonzie Colson tried his best to keep the Israeli yellow-and-blue team afloat with 13 points – just like Wade Baldwin – and 5 rebounds, but he surely wasn’t enough. Lorenzo Brown added 10 points and 6 assists in the losing effort against his former team, which he represented in the 2020-21 season. “We were not there from the first minute, with zero energy”, Oded Kattash said.
A dominant and historic display from Fenerbahce
After a balanced first quarter, ended with the two teams scoring 22 points apiece, Fenerbahce started the second with a resounding 13-0 scoring run. After the timeout at 7:00 minutes to go before halftime, Maccabi Tel Aviv reduced the deficit to six points (35-29), but the Turkish team fastly regained the advantage with another 12-0 run, distancing themselves with an 18-point lead (47-29) with 2:50 left.
Entering the second half with a huge 26-point lead (57-31) following an amazing three-point spectacle (7/12) in the first two quarters, Sarunas Jasikevicius’ team never slowed down, even reaching a dominating 32-point lead (80-48) to finish the third quarter, eventually going all the way to the win.
When they faced each other earlier this year in the EuroLeague Round 9 at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Fenerbahce put on a show of two faces: the Turkish team was better in the first half, but then the Israeli yellow-and-blue team came back and got the victory.
After completing the double-game week after also beating AS Monaco at home, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Virtus Bologna and travel to the black-and-white side of Belgrade in next week’s double-game action; Fenerbahce, instead, after losing to Crvena Zvezda in Round 18, will first host Partizan Belgrade at home and then Bayern Munich in the EuroLeague Rounds 20 and 21.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague