“I’m very happy, and getting the team to win is most important. Our record doesn’t show it, but we will climb the ladder. We have so much talent to show,” Walker, the game's MVP, said.
It was a banner week for Israeli teams in Europe as all three of the country’s teams in continental action won their respective games ahead of the return of the Euroleague and EuroCup contests coming back to the Holy Land.
Maccabi Tel Aviv crushed past Zalgiris 83-65 in arguably its best Euroleague showing of the season as Lonnie Walker scored points aplenty to help the yellow-and-blue to the convincing victory.
Maccabi came flying out of the gate as Walker, Iffe Lundberg, Jaylen Hoard, and TJ Leaf all scored in bunches while Sylvain Francisco and Nigel Williams-Goss countered for Zalgiris, but the yellow-and-blue went into halftime with a huge 51-30 advantage.
Roman Sorkin, Will Rayman, and Oshae Brissett scored for Oded Katash’s squad while Edgaras Ulanovas tried to cut into the Maccabi lead. However, Walker led off the final frame with nine straight points while Hoard and Sorkin added more points to polish off the win.
Walker scored 23 points, Hoard added 16 points, and Lundberg scored 10 points in the win, while Francisco scored 13 points and Ignas Brazdeikis put in 10 points in the loss.
“We didn’t expect it,” Katash began. “But it was a big one and very important. Zalgiris is a great team especially at home but we controlled the game from the first half and this win was very important for our confidence.”
A win based on high scores
Walker, the game’s MVP, spoke about the win.
“I’m very happy, and getting the team to win is most important. Our record doesn’t show it, but we will climb the ladder. We have so much talent to show and to give that the best is yet to come.”
Meanwhile, Hapoel Tel Aviv downed ASVEL Villeurbanne 87-80 as the Reds mounted a fourth-quarter comeback by going on a 21-3 run to close out the game.
Jonathan Motley, Dan Oturu and Tyler Ennis all had the hot hand for Hapoel Tel Aviv to open while Nando De Colo and Glynn Watson responded as the Reds headed into halftime with a 49-41 lead.
Oturu and Antonio Blakeney kept Tel Aviv in front as the second half got underway, but De Colo kept piling in the points. Bastein Vautier, Mbaye Ndiaye, and Bodian Massa also scored to move in front of Dimitrios Itoudis’s team.
But Blakeney kept scoring to put Hapoel back in front, while Ish Wainright also went from deep, and Colin Malcolm found points to close out the win.
“ASVEL had a great game, and they are well coached,” Itoudis began. “We were up and thought it was going to be easy, and we stopped playing on both ends. We started thinking about individual things and things beyond basketball.
When we were down 11 with six minutes left, we had the courage, trust, and right responsibility as we went small ball to defend and score to get the win. Running 21-3 in the last six minutes shows the potential we have. I want to thank all of the teams who voted positively for having the games going back to Israel.”
Finally, Hapoel Jerusalem crushed Venezia 98-66 as six players finished in double figures for the Reds as they took the victory.
Jerusalem jumped out all over Venezia as Khadeen Carrington, Jared Harper, and Yovel Zoosman hit their shots with ease while RJ Cole countered for the hosts.
After Jerusalem grabbed a 47-26 lead by halftime, Yonatan Alon’s team kept applying the offense as Austin Wiley, Dmytro Skapintsev, and Cassius Winston all scored in double digits to take the easy win.
Harper scored 18 points while Zoosman and Carrington scored 15 points apiece in the victory, while Cole led Venezia with 12 points and Ky Bowman put in 11 points in the loss.
Alon reflected on the game.
“It was tough to practice with guys playing for the national team, but everyone got back into focus for this contest. Now, we have to concentrate on the game coming up against Kiryat Ata, and we’re excited to be playing European games back in Israel.”
Zoosman also reflected on the win.
“The guys rested, and we know what we can do as we saw in the first half. We were consistent throughout the game and each one of us knows what’s expected and we will take some good things from this game and take it into our next contests.
I’m happy that we won our last home game in Serbia, and we are all happy to be able to play in Israel, which will be great from a mental point of view as well.”