By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Tel Aviv overcame injuries that were known before (Omri Casspi) the match against Bayern Munich and also appeared in the first period the game (John DiBartolomeo, Nate Wolters) to rout the German team 77 – 55 and register its eighth win 12 rounds into the EuroLeague regular season.
Scottie Wilbekin scored 16 points, Othello Hunter added a season-high 15 points and Yovel Zoosman posted season-best 13 points and eight rebounds while hearing his name being chanted by Maccabi fans. Elijah Bryant (12 points) completed the offensive game-winning equation for the “Yellows.”
Petteri Koponen (10 points) and Vladimir Lucic (10 points) were the only Bayern players in double figures. The Bavarian team is now 4-8 after suffering immensely against Maccabi’s defense.
The hosts took a 23-point lead by forcing their opponents 28 points in the first 23 minutes of the game while scoring 51. Bayern rallied to cut their deficit to six, 53 – 47 at the end of the third quarter but Maccabi responded with a 13-3 run to assume full control of the game once more.
“Coach just stressed defense. We let them score 21 points in the last 4-5 minutes of the third quarter, so we just tried to pick it up on defense. It was tough having John [DiBartolomeo] and Nate [Wolters] out, but we figured it out,” Wilbekin said. “Zoos [Yovel Zoosman] did a great job.”
In praise of the almighty defense
Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos commended his players for putting a stop to Bayern’s offense. For the most part of the game.
“I think in the second and fourth periods, our defense was excellent, also the first period,” Sfairopoulos said. “But when we got the lead at the beginning of the second half, I think that we relaxed for 2-3 minutes and they found the way to score. But you saw after that the team really committed defensively and we stopped everything. They scored 8 points in the last period. Great defense, great job from all the players.”