Gershon and Maccabi punished Olympiacos

Gershon celebrates (Photo: one.co.il)

09-01-2009 09:09

Maccabi Electra led from start to finish to polish off Olympiacos Piraeus on Thursday night at Tel Aviv’s Nokia Arena. The winter break seemed to do head coach Pini Gershon’s charges well as they were in synch offensively with five scoring in double figures.

Maccabi improved to 6-3 in Group A – the same record as the Reds – but trails Olympiacos in the standings due to a 19-point loss suffered in Greece in November. However Maccabi could still potentially win the group with a big win in Spain next week against Unicaja.

The hosts started strong and took an 8-1 lead and increased it to double figures in the second period before Yotam Halperin's shooting helped the Reds close the gap to 47-45 at halftime.

However D’Or Fischer scored 7 – including two dunk-and-fouls – as the hosts opened the second half with an 11-0 charge and Maccabi was never seriously threatened again.

Carlos Arroyo paced Maccabi with 20 points and 5 assists, while Lior Eliyahu, who was received his December MVP trophy from club president Shimon Mizrahi before halftime, added 18 points and 8 rebounds. Fischer recorded 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, while Marcus Brown added 15 and Omri Casspi 14.

Josh Childress scored 15 to lead the Reds, Halperin netted 14 against his boyhood club, Ioannis Bourousis produced 11 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals, Theo Papaloukas had 11 points and 5 assists and Milos Teodosic added 10.