Maccabi Tel Aviv held on to defeat Fenerbahce 94-89 as Roman Sorkin and Oshae Brissett paced the yellow-and-blue to the victory in order to keep their Euroleague postseason dreams alive. The win for Oded Katash’s squad moved Maccabi’s record to 16-16 good for 12th place and two victories off of a Play In spot with six games remaining in the regular season.

Sorkin came out strong while Jimmy Clark along with Brissett and Tamir Blatt were able to stay in front of Saras Jasikevičius’s squad who were led by Nando de Colo, Talen Horton Tucker and Metecan Birsen, for the balance of the game to notch the win. Sorkin scored 19 points, Clark scored 16 points and added 8 assists, and Brissett put in 14 points in the victory while De Colo scored 26 points, Birsen scored 14 points and Horton Tucker chipped in with 10 points in the loss.

Roman Sorkin filled the basket early while Lonnie Walker and Jimmy Clark both hit their shots for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bonzie Colson, Chris Silva and Talen Horton Tucker responded for Fenerbahce, but Tamir Blatt went from deep to give the yellow-and-blue 25-20 lead after ten minutes of play. Oshae Brissett dunked, John Dibartolomeo and Gur Lavy went from deep, Nando de Colo and Horton Tucker responded but points from Sorkin as Jaylen Hoard went from the outside and inside gave Oded Katash’s team a 57-43 advantage at halftime.

Clark and Sorkin scored for Maccabi while Colson did the same at the other end to begin the third quarter, De Colo scored ten straight points for Saras Jasikevičius’s team, Blatt came back from deep and Clark scored at the buzzer to keep the yellow-and-blue ahead 72-66 after thirty minutes of action. Wade Baldwin and Clark traded baskets to begin the final frame, Marcio Santos put in a deuce, Metecan Birsen scored, Brissett put put in a deuce and a triple, Sorkin drained a corner 3-ball and then put down a monster dunk as did Brissett to close out the win.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash spoke about the win, “A great win for us, a big effort by the players. In the second half, Fener were more aggressive. The first half was excellent on both ends of the court. We knew they have a lot of quality, I’m very happy. We found a way to close out the game, unlike the previous game, and we also started well. I’m very proud. We played against the team in first place in the EuroLeague. Everyone who came to support us here was important. It’s not like playing in Tel Aviv, where we have an amazing atmosphere. We miss our fans and our families, but we talked about it and we’re trying to play for them.”

Fenerbahce Head Coach Saras Jasikevičius reflected on the loss, “Maccabi deserved to win for sure, the first half was how we have been playing lately which has been unacceptable giving up 57 points. Wee were one, two steps slower and they took rebounds under out basket and our approach wasn’t good. The second half was good as we found solutions and we were better defensively but in the Euroleague if you play one half you will lose and Maccabi was the better team.”

Oshae Brissett who earned the Player of they Game award said, “We did a great job starting the game off strong. A lot of times we start off slow and come from behind, but we did a good job coming out knowing what this game means and bring that intensity from the start. We knew that they would come and play harder than they did in the first half. They are a great team and we had to be ready for that storm and that type of basketball but we did a good job in the 4th to maintain their runs, playing with each other and trusting each other.”

Roman Sorkin discussed the key victory, “Two completely different halves and the first half helped us maintain the lead. We started well and it was a great win at the end of the day, we have to keep getting those wins. Everybody knows the situation back at home and we would like to play in Tel Aviv with the energy and ambition but we are praying everything will be good. We thank everyone who came here and supported us and this is the situation that we need to deal with.”