Maccabi Tel Aviv eyes rebound from European slump; Other Israeli clubs make play-ins

Maccabi Tel Aviv will take on Red Star Belgrade in front of 20,000 rabid fans on Friday night as it will once again try to get back on track in Euroleague play after coming up short against Baskonia, 95-85, earlier this week.

In a game that was never that close, a red-hot Markus Howard scored at will throughout the 40 minutes, dropping the yellow-and-blue’s record to 4-12 on the season.

Rokas Jokubaitis and Roman Sorkin both scored 22 points for Maccabi, while Tamir Blatt and Jaylen Hoard scored 14 points apiece in the loss. Howard dropped 28 points, Chima Moneke put in 17 points, Tadas Sedekerskis chipped in with 12 points, and Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos scored 11 points in the win.

“There are some games where we missed a lot of shots, and on the other side, they hit some tough shots, at the end of the shot clock, and all of the 50/50 balls went to their side. That can happen,” Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Oded Katash began. “The thing is that we really played the score and we lost our body language and energy. Missing Jasiel Rivero due to injury and early in the game when we lost Wenyen Gabriel to a hand injury didn’t help us. But still, we have to learn from this. When we are focused, we are a good basketball team, but today wasn’t our day and that can happen.”

With that, Katash is now preparing for his team’s next test at Red Star, which will not be a simple task whatsoever.

“It’s not going to be easy, we are going to play another tough Euroleague game and we have to react. I think we learned our lesson. We will see what happens with Wenyen as we are missing our big guys, but other players need to step up, and that is our expectation – to see a reaction.”

Maccabi forward Will Rayman spoke about what he feels the club needs to do to find a way out of the slump.

“We have to stay together, and we have to step up. It’s on us as players. We’ve got to be better and play more intense, especially from the start of the game. It’s good that we have a couple of days of practice here, and we don’t have to travel at all. We are going to watch some film and just try to keep our heads up. Losing is not great, and the only way through it is together. Nobody can win these games by themselves. It’s the collective unit. A couple of good days of practice, stick together – we just got to fight really hard on Friday.”

Katash is well aware that Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s Red Star team, which has a collection of solid players including Codi Miller-McIntyre, Nemanja Nedovic, Nikola Kalinic, and others, has been able to keep the club hovering around .500 at 8-8.

With that, the Belgrade Arena, which is arguably the largest and most exciting venue to take part in a Euroleague game, will be hopping, explained the Maccabi bench boss.

“It’s one of the best atmospheres you can have in the Euroleague, and for us, it’s really special that we are here in Belgrade. We love Belgrade, which has become like our home these past two seasons. We have been playing the entire season without our fans, maybe that will help us, but it will be very challenging. What we’ve gone through over the past year, we have to keep our heads up and keep fighting. It’s a long season. They will be the favorites for this game, but we need to show character and react, and it starts with our defense.”

Maccabi Ramat Gan

In other European action, Maccabi Ramat Gan punched its ticket to the Basketball Champions League Play-In Round with a 94-93 win over VEF Riga as Kendale McCullum scored the decisive free throw with eight seconds to go to seal the victory.

Shmulik Brenner’s squad finished the Group Stage Round with a 3-3 record, good for third place, and a chance to advance to the Round of 16 if it wins the best-of-3 Play-In Round series against Szombathely from Hungary.

Isaiah Miles scored 19 points, Roberto Gallinat added 15 points, and Adam Ariel scored 13 points in the win. Dairis Bertans led all scorers with 29 points, Issuf Sanon put in 19 points, and Harrison Cleary chipped in with 15 points in the loss.

“Wow! This was sweet but very difficult,” Brenner exclaimed. “This is a great victory for us; this is a great achievement for Maccabi Ramat Gan. We were drawn into a tough group in the BCL, and it wasn’t easy with all of the possible implications for us to qualify for the next stage, but to do just that is a great achievement. We are very happy and excited.”

Ariel added, “This is a huge victory for us! The entire team showed character, and even in a somewhat difficult period during the game, we managed to straighten ourselves out and take the victory and move into the Play-In. This is a historic moment for the club, and we are very, very happy. We did this as a team, everyone contributed, everyone was energetic, and we are all very, very thrilled.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Besiktas 109-101 in overtime as Antonio Blakeney continued his fine form and helped lead the Reds to the tough win in Bulgaria.

With the win, Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad moved to 7-5 on the season and moved into fourth place just above Besiktas, who now have the same record, and behind Ulm, who are 8-4 in Division A.

Hapoel Jerusalem fell to Hamburg Towers 82-80 as the shorthanded Reds had trouble all game long trying to find a way to get in front of the Germans as their record fell to 7-5 on the season. Niklas Wimberg and Jared Harper traded baskets over the course of the opening quarter, while Jaizec Lottie, Kur Kuath, and Brae Ivey paced the hosts in the second quarter as Derek Ogbeide, Khadeen Carrington, and Harper with a 3-pointer at the end of the half knotted the score up at 43-43.

Gaby Chachashvili, Tarik Phillip, and Jared Harper kept the Reds close, but Jonathan Stove, Kur Kuath, andJaizec Lottie scored for Hamburg to take the two-point win. Harper scored 26 points, and Phillip added 13 points in the loss, while Lottie scored 18 points, and Kuath put in 14 points in the win.

“Hapoel Jerusalem right now is a nonfunctional team,” coach Yonatan Alon said. “We don’t have enough players to do almost 5-on-0 in practice, and those guys came out here and gave everything they got. I think at least I’m proud of them. Of course, we made some mistakes; obviously, we could have played better, but still, I’m proud of what I got.”

Hapoel Holon came up short at Nanterre 87-77 as the Purples finished the Basketball Champions League group stage in third place and will play Turkish squad Aliaga Petkimspor in the best-of-three Play-In.

“Nanterre was more aggressive and made fewer mistakes,” Holon coach Guy Goodes began. “When you lose every quarter, you won’t deserve to win the game, and we made so many mistakes. When you do that at this level, you will get punished. We will play on the road for the best-of-three Play-In, and we must focus. It won’t be easy, but we will be ready for this challenge.”or any other stadium in the country. I know how much it can push us to even higher places. The team has an excellent combination of young and veteran players and a professional staff that is constantly demanding and teaching us.”