By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi at Belgrade with no fans is not the same team as in Tel Aviv, still, nobody expected that ALBA could get the road win.
However, in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, you have to expect the unexpected, and ALBA got the 93-87 win.
Maccabi was missing Jaylen Hoard and Rokas Jokubaitis after 14 minutes of action due to an ankle injury and when it was all said and done dropped to a 6-18 record, while ALBA improved to 4-20.
Yanni Wetzell with 22 points and Malte Delow with 14 led the winners, while Maccabi got 16 points and nine assists by Tamir Blatt.
As Martin Hermannsson said after adding 11 points for ALBA: “It’s a much better feeling than walking away with nothing… The more wins, the better”.
A fight until the end
The hosts opened up the game with a 22-19 lead after the first period, however, ALBA trailed by two at halftime time (48-46) and tied the score at 51 with seven minutes left in the third period.
However, that was just the start for the Germans who built a six-point cushion (63-57) and suddenly were in the driver’s seat, closing the quarter with a seven-point advantage (70-63), after leading by 11 (70-59).
And then Maccabi simply collapsed for one minute, with Wetzell and Malte scoring seven unanswered points and pushing ALBA’s lead to 14 (77-63) after just 99 seconds of play in the last period.
The Germans led even by 16 (81-65) and Maccabi made a final push, trimming their lead to three (88-85) with two minutes left after a three by Marial Shayok.
The two teams exchanged baskets and with the game on the line, Matteo Spagnolo made one out of two free throws for ALBA (91-87) with 38 seconds on the clock.
Shayok missed the next shot, Wetzell scored (93-87) and the game was over.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague