By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The first break in the Euroleague play offs is a fact after the overtime 101-99 road win of Maccabi Tel Aviv over EA7 Milano. The duo of Ricky Hickman (26 p.) and Tyrese Rice (17 p.) lead the Israelis, but specially Hickman was unstoppable in a career night with a 36 ranking.
Former Maccabi Tel Aviv player Keith Langford scored 18 points on 4/13 shots and he also missed the chance to win the game for Milan in regulation after being blocked by Alex Tyus and then making one of two free throws (87-87). In overtime Hickman was hot and Langford cut the lead of Maccabi to two points after one more free throw with just two seconds left. He missed his second free throw attempt on purpose, Gani Lawal got the offensive rebound, but couldn’t send the game to a second overtime.
“It was a special game. It’s unusual to come back at this level in this kind of game. The game is over, there are more games to play, so we have to go back to work tomorrow and think about the next game. There is no time to celebrate”, Maccabi coach David Blatt said after the game, while host coach Banchi admitted: “We had the possibility to win the game with seven tenths of a second to go, but we missed it. We are being tested now and we have to increase our level of play, avoiding mistakes. We have to get back our energy, too. You can imagine our frustration now, but tomorrow we’ll talk about tonight, because Friday there will be another game”.