By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Norris Cole and Pierre Jackson combined for nearly half of their team’s points, as Maccabi Tel Aviv grabbed its third victory in a row against Fenerbahce by winning 82 – 73 in front of their home crowd in “Menora Mivtachim” arena.
Jackson finished with a game-high 20 points plus 5 assists for a team-high 25 in PIR while Cole added 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Apart from making buckets throughout the whole game, they also “spoke” loudly down the stretch.
Maccabi, that had the lead from start to finish after a rocking 15-2 entrance, was up 74 – 58 with four minutes remaining but Fenerbahce struck back to make it a three-possession thing, 77 – 70 with 1:47 left. Then Cole hit a crazy shot under the rim and then Jackson made a huge 3-point play with a basket plus foul won to put his team ahead 82 – 71, practically sealing the deal for the “Yellows” that are now 8 – 6.
Fenerbahce looked out of juice after Tuesday’s blowout win over Crvena Zvezda and dropped to a 9 – 5 record despite Jan Vesely‘s 18 points, 6 rebounds and game-high 27 in PIR, plus the 12 points courtesy of Bobby Dixon.
The defending champions never recovered sufficiently to pose a serious threat to the determined hosts, following their sloppy beginning, always trailing throughout the match. What is worst, they saw Nikola Kalinic exiting the game in the first quarter after an ankle injury.