Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Fenerbahce 85-75 as the yellow-and-blue came all the way back from being 20 points down to take the lead but couldn’t hold on to it as time wound down and the reigning Euroleague champs took home the win. The loss dropped Maccabi’s record to 2-8 in Euroleague play as a date with Baskonia is up next on Thursday night.

Khem Birch and Tarik Biberbovic scored for Feberbahce while Lonnie Walker and Jaylen Hoard found points for Maccabi Tel Aviv but a triple and free throws for Wade Baldwin gave the hosts a 20-15 lead after ten minutes of play.

Mikael Jantunen and Nicolo Melli both went from deep, Roman Sorkin and Jaylen Hoard responded, Talen Horton-Tucker scored while Gur Lavy hit a deuce and a triple but a Devon Hall bucket at the end of the half helped Fenerbahce to a 40-30 advantage.

Hall picked up where he left off with a quartet of 3-pointers to begin the third quarter, TJ Leaf and Sorkin countered, Baldwin went from the inside and outside and then added a 3-point play, Sorkin put in more points while Will Rayman went from deep but Sarunas Jasikevičius’s side stayed ahead 65-56 after thirty minutes of action.

Rayman scored off the glass, Hoard put in a 3-point play, Tamir Blatt went from deep, Sorkin scored a 3-point play, Jeff Dowtin hit a jumper, Baldwin scored from the line and added a 3-pointer, while Horton-Tucker also scored to close out the win for the Turkish squad.

Baldwin scored 17 points, Hall added 15 points and Horton-Tucker dropped 12 points in the win. Sorkin scored 20 points and Hoard put in 15 points in the defeat.

“I’m proud how we came back into the game,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash began. “We stayed there even though we couldn’t buy a shot in the first half. When we were down, we were there and that is very important and gain we had a chance to win the game which is very important. In a double week it’s always tricky and I will need to see who has the energy to play including those who didn’t get into the flow of things in this game.”

Will Rayman spoke about the defeat and what the team can take out of the loss, “We are good enough to play at this level and compete and win games but we are just missing the extra, closing the games and the push to get us over the hump. It’s really frustrating and we all feel it and we all know that we are good enough. We need to just get a win and play team ball along with intensity and defense along with rebounding better which are there things that we can control.”

Jeff Dowtin discussed the upcoming game against Baskonia on Thursday, “We haver to start games off with a lot more energy and enthusiasm. We got down early and we fought back as a team but we put ourselves in a deep hole and we have to execute a lot earlier. We have shown that we can do it and we have to be consistent, start the games as we finish them.”