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Maccabi held off Barcelona
Batista in action (sport5.co.il)
02-04-2008 00:41 | gong.bg
Maccabi Elite held off a stern second-half charge from AXA FC Barcelona to record an 81-75 win in Game 1 of the teams' best-of-three Euroleague Basketball Quarterfinal Playoffs series on Tuesday night at Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. The Israeli champs can now earn a trip to the Final Four in Madrid with a win at Barcelona in Game 2 on Thursday.
Maccabi used a 9-0 run bridging first two periods to take the lead and the hosts would increase it to 11 a number of times in the second quarter. Barcelona cut the gap to 36-29 by halftime. Gianluca Basile and Ersan Ilyasova each drilled 3 three-pointers in the third quarter as Barca came back to tie the score at 57-57. But Maccabi never fell behind despite constant pressure from the visitors and continued dominant play from Basile and Ilyasova. But Nikola Vujcic, who entered the game shooting 47.8% from the line, was perfect from the charity stripe when it mattered most and a traveling call on Basile with 20 seconds left and his team down 6 signaled the end for Barcelona.
Maccabi was led by its big trio of Esteban Batista with 15 points, Terrence Morris with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Vujcic with 12. Yotam Halperin added 11 points and 5 assists and Will Bynum, who made his third start of the season, also score 11.
Ilyasova finished with a career-high 21 points and 9 rebounds, Basile added 17 and Mario Kasun posted 12 points and 8 boards for Barcelona, whose biggest weakness was star guard Jaka Lakovic, who finished with just 6 points on 1-for-10 shooting.
Maccabi used a 9-0 run bridging first two periods to take the lead and the hosts would increase it to 11 a number of times in the second quarter. Barcelona cut the gap to 36-29 by halftime. Gianluca Basile and Ersan Ilyasova each drilled 3 three-pointers in the third quarter as Barca came back to tie the score at 57-57. But Maccabi never fell behind despite constant pressure from the visitors and continued dominant play from Basile and Ilyasova. But Nikola Vujcic, who entered the game shooting 47.8% from the line, was perfect from the charity stripe when it mattered most and a traveling call on Basile with 20 seconds left and his team down 6 signaled the end for Barcelona.
Maccabi was led by its big trio of Esteban Batista with 15 points, Terrence Morris with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Vujcic with 12. Yotam Halperin added 11 points and 5 assists and Will Bynum, who made his third start of the season, also score 11.
Ilyasova finished with a career-high 21 points and 9 rebounds, Basile added 17 and Mario Kasun posted 12 points and 8 boards for Barcelona, whose biggest weakness was star guard Jaka Lakovic, who finished with just 6 points on 1-for-10 shooting.
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