By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Like a phoenix rising from its ashes, Maccabi Tel Aviv put behind a series of bad results in both Euroleague and Israeli league to beat Fenerbahce 87 – 77. And this score doesn’t really portray the huge difference in the two team’s performances in the fourth quarter.
Sonny Weems and Yogev Ohayon cut the defense of Fenerbahce into small pieces thanks to their scoring and creation. The American forward had a super all-around game of 22 points, 4 assists and 5 rebounds and the Maccabi veteran guard dropped 16 points, adding 4 assists. The latter’s game made the serious absence of Andrew Goudelock look almost… irrelevant.
Ekpe Udoh (17 points, 8 rebounds) and Jan Vesely (16 points, 8 rebounds) were once again a formidable duo, but the Turkish team lacked a serious help from the rest of its players. Particularly down the stretch, where Fener absolutely fell apart.
Maccabi could have won by a bigger margin indeed. Already holding a relative control particularly thanks to their tight defense, the “Yellows” entered the final period ahead 66 – 60. And that was when they unleashed their full force over their opponents.
Thanks to a 10 – 0 run, they took a 16-point lead, 76 – 60 in the mid of the fourth quarter, establishing their rule for good. After failing to score even a single point for five minutes, Fenerbahce then became unable to react, making one mistake after the other and seeing all their turnovers being transformed into baskets by their hosts.
It’s not surprising that near the end, Zeljko Obradovic was sitting at the bench, having accepted the fate of his team…