By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Scottie Wilbekin scored the game-winning jumper with 5 seconds remaining to hand Maccabi Tel Aviv a 65 – 64 victory over Olympiacos Piraeus at home. The Israeli side is now on a 10 – 12 record and one step closer to the playoffs.
Giorgos Printezis missed the left-handed floater on the other end and Olympiacos suffered its third loss in a row. The Reds dropped to 12-10.
“Obviously, that was a game that could have gone either way and they made one more good play than we did and that ultimately determined the outcome. ” Olympiacos coach and former Maccabi coach David Blatt said.
Vassilis Spanoulis had given the lead to Olympiacos with two triples row that brought his team back in the game after falling behind with five, 63 – 58, with 1:41 remaining. The captain of Olympiacos finished with 16 points, as many as Nigel Williams-Goss.
“It was a very important, very difficult game for both teams, as you saw. The game didn’t have quality, it was a derby and I think that, in the end, it was very important that we didn’t panic when Spanoulis made these 2 three-pointers,” Maccabi head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos said. Sfairopoulos was a coach on Olympiacos for four years before joining Maccabi.
Tarik Black dropped a game-high 19 points plus seven rebounds. He scored 10 of his points in the fourth period to help Maccabi preserve a small, yet steady lead until Spanoulis’ outbreak down the stretch.
Wilbekin finished with 17 points for the “Yellows”.