Maccabi Tel Aviv held on to defeat Zalgiris 100-97 as the yellow-and-blue improved their record to 9-13 in Euroleague play in front of over ten-thousand fans who cheered them on from the tip-off all the way to the final whistle.

Prior to the game, former hostage Eli Sharabi spoke to the crowd and received a standing ovation.

Roman Sorkin and TJ Leaf were busy for Maccabi Tel Aviv while Sylvain Francisco, Moses Wright and Laurynas Birutis answered for Zalgiris as the yellow-and-blue grabbed a 27-24 lead after the opening period. Marcio Santos and Leaf helped bump up the lead, Moses Wright scored a trio of buckets while Lundberg put in a quick 7 points but Deividas Sirvydis scored from the outside and inside as Oded Katash’s team stayed in front 52-49 at halftime.

Clark had the hot hand out of halftime while Blatt also hit his shots from deep but points from Francisco kept Zalgiris in the game but down 78-71 after thirty minutes. Francisco, Wright and Lo cut the lead to just a couple of points but a Tubelis turnover as time wound down handed Maccabi the win.

Clark, Leaf and Sorkin all scored 17 points in the win while Francisco scored 22 points, Wright put in 17 points and Tubelis added 15 points in the loss.

“Great win for us and it was a team effort,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash began. “We could have done better also on defense l but both teams executed well offensively. We did a good job on their offensive rebounds and I’m very halftime about that. Many players really got into the game and I was really happy with the body language that we showed in the win.”

Zalgiris head coach Tomas Masiulis reflected on the loss, “Tough game and tough loss for us, we didn’t play good defense and we let them score a lot of points. But I felt we had a chance as Maccabi scored some tough 3-pointers and if we were patient we could as well, we hit some but we missed our shots at the end.”

Sylvain Francisco led off the game from deep for Zalgiris while Iffe Lundberg and Jimmy Clark did the same for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Moses Wright put down an alley-oop and Roman Sorkin responded with a tough layup at the other end as well as going from deep to give the hosts a 13-9 lead midway through the first quarter.

Laurynas Birutis put in a deuce, Sorkin put in a mini-hook, Marcio Santos took the ball in the post and scored, Dovydas Giedraitis went from downtown, Santos and Maodo Lo traded triples, Leaf put in a 3-point play and dunked off a Tamir Blatt pass to give the yellow-and-blue a 27-24 lead after ten minutes of end to end action.

Santos out down a monster dunk to begin the second quarter, Leaf scored off a rebound, Blatt went from beyond the arc, Wright scored a trio of baskets at the other end, Lundberg came in for a layup, added a jumper and drained a 3-pointer, Deividas Sirvydis drained a pair from deep, Lo and John Dibartolomeo went from deep as Maccabi took a 52-49 advantage at halftime.

Clark started the third quarter with a pair from the outside, Santos put in a 3-point play, Francisco came back with a 4-point play, Leaf scored a pair of baskets, Azuolas Tubelis put in points, Clark went from deep yet again, Sorkin hit a long deuce, Blatt nailed a pair from beyond the arc while Francisco scored five points to keep Zalgiris hanging around but down 78-71 after thirty minutes of play.

Edgaras Ulanovas and Dibartolomeo traded triples to begin the final frame, Sorkin put in a 3-point play, Tubelis scored in the paint, Oshae Brissett drilled home a corner 3-ball, Tubelis went from deep, Lundberg put in a 3-point play, Francisco went from deep, Wright scored in the paint as did Lo to cut the lead to 94-91 with just over two minutes remaining in regulation time.

Hoard put in a basket, Francisco went from super deep, Lundberg hit his free throws but Francisco went from downtown yet again, but a turnover by Tubelis closed out the win for the yellow-and-blue.