By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi is just playing for pride, and that was enough motivation for the big 91-88 win over Monaco.
Romain Sorkin and Rokas Jokubaitis, with 18 points each, were the top scorers of the winners; Levi Randolph had 17, and Trevion Williams added 15.
Mike James had 26 points and eight assists, which were not enough. Daniel Theis (photo) added 16 in 19 minutes, until he was injured and couldn’t stay on the court for the last period.
“It feels good, three consecutive wins is something unusual for us this season in the EuroLeague. Good feelings, happy for the team, and we’re on a good run. For our honor, we need to finish the season as well as possible. There was a good mentality, we fought hard. Against a team like this, you have to fight to win, and everyone did a great job. Vassilis Spanoulis? It’s weird to see him on the sidelines after I played against him,” Jokubaitis said.
The point is that Monaco dropped to a 17-12 record, and Bayern (17-11) has the chance to stay alone on the fourth spot of the Turkish Airlines standings with a win, while Maccabi improved to 9-20.
Monaco couldn’t close it the right way
Maccabi opened the game leading 21-18 after the first period and set the tone for a fight.
Still, Monaco got the 42-39 halftime lead and entered the last period up by four (63-59), while losing Theis after a scary fall.
With the game on the line and six minutes left, Marial Shayok scored a three to make it a two-point game (71-69).
Mike James answered back with three (74-69), but one minute later, Maccabi was still just two points behind (77-75) after a two-pointer by Levi Randolph.
Two free throws by Elie Okobo, a miss by Shayok, and one more basket by James gave Monaco a crucial six-point cushion (81-75) with less than four minutes left.
After two free throws by Rokas Jokubatis, Maccabi trimmed the lead again to two (82-80), however, Jordan Loyd made a three (85-80) and fouled out in the next play.
That cushion was not enough, and with 68 seconds left, Roman Sorkin made it a one-point game (88-87) with a three.
This time, James missed, and Jokubaitis, with 31 seconds on the clock, gave Maccabi their first lead of the second half (89-88). This triggered a wild finish with Okobo missing a three and Mam Jaiteh getting the offensive rebound and then the foul.
Jaiteh missed both free throws, and Levi Randolph was fouled and made two free throws (91-88). Monaco got 11 seconds and the ball to send the game to overtime, but James missed, and the game was over as Maccabi closed it with a 9-0 run from trailing 88-82.
“Even at halftime, I said that we played well. We came without two big men and knew it would be tough against a team with the size of Monaco. We came with a specific game plan and executed it well. It wasn’t our best offensive game, but we were there and managed to come back. I’m very happy for the players who showed a lot of character. This is very important for our confidence. We’ll need to find a replacement for Rivera, and it won’t be easy, he was great for us,” Maccabi’s head coach Oded Kattash said after the game.
Photo credit: EuroLeague