Maccabi Tel Aviv finally picked up their first win of the season away from home as they defeated Olimpia Milano 77-71 in Euroleague action. The victory broke a five game road winless streak as the yellow-and-blue moved their record to 7-6, a game over .500 with a second game in Italy on tap for Friday night at Bologna.

Head coach Oded Katash saw Lorenzo Brown pick up the slack without guard Wade Baldwin at his disposal with a stellar performance throughout the forty minutes while Jarell Martin scored early on for Maccabi but Timothe Luwawu Cabarrot, Naz Mitrou-Long and Kyle Hines put Etorre Messina’s squad in front 40-32 at halftime.

Maccabi began to cut the lead in the third quarter but Nicole Melli and Billy Baron kept Milano in front 51-43, however, Bonzie Colson and John Dibartolomeo pulled the visitors into a 59-59 tie by the end of the quarter setting up a dramatic fourth period. Roman Sorkin almost single-handedly willed the yellow-and-blue to the win by giving them a lead early on in the final frame and came up with huge baskets as time wound down to help notch the win.

Brown led the way with 20 points and 8 assists, Sorkin added 14 points and Martin chipped in with 13 points in the win.

“It was a great effort, great defense in the second half,” Katash said. “I think the number that we got from the stats, the most important one, is that we beat them by 13 in rebounding. We showed some heart. I mean, we were ready for the game and for the battle, after we adapted at halftime. Finally [we got a road win]. It’s very important, but you know home and away, every game is tough. It’s never easy.”

“I think the third quarter was a moment of runs,” Messina began. “We had a run, they had a run, so we lost the lead. But the fourth quarter, again, unfortunately, our defense was not at the level. And our decisions, and especially our missing free throws, was not good. We keep working and we’ll see what happens.”

Lorenzo Brown also reflected on the win, “Amazing feeling. We’ve been fighting on the road for the past few months, and we just wanted to get it done. I’m sure they wanted to win just as bad as we did, but someone had to win tonight. It just came down to our defense and our team collectiveness. You know it’s a building process for us right now. We’re just trying to work through some hard times, and it’ll work out towards the end of it. We promise.”

“I think we all won it,” an excited Roman Sorkin said. “We really needed a road win. We were desperate for it. I’m happy we got it, and we talk about defense. I think we did a pretty good job on defense, but we have to keep going. This is just one team, and it’s a long season. I think we did a good job on their bigs, denying the ball, and on their guards on the pick and roll. I think we’ve been the aggressor today. In an away game, sometimes you won’t get the calls, so you need to bring some energy, and I’m happy we brought it.”

Lorenzo Brown got to work early for Maccabi Tel Aviv a pair of triples while Josh Nebo put in alley-oop plus added a pair of other baskets to give the yellow-and-blue a 12-6 lead midway through the first quarter. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot started to heat up for Milano as did Devon Hall, but Jalen Adams fed Roman Sorkin for a dunk off a steal while Jarell Martin went from the inside and outside to knot the score up at 21-21 after ten minutes of play.

Adams and Martin put Oded Katash’s team in front but Naz Mitrou-Long began to find the basket for Ettore Messina’s squad as they grabbed a 30-26 lead with 6:15 left in the second quarter. Layups but Brown and Adams and a floater from Jake Cohen cut into the lead, but a 3-pointer from Cabarot and points from an active Kyle Hines along with misses galore inside by Maccabi as Milano took a 40-32 advantage into halftime.

An inspired Maccabi came out flying to begin the third quarter with a jumper by Nebo, a triple from Martin and a Brown layup to cut the gap, but back to back triples by Nicole Melli and Billy Baron and a dunk by the former kept Milano ahead 51-43 midway through the period. Bonzie Colson hit a pair of jumpers, John Dibartolomeo got to work with a deuce and a trio of free throws and Sorkin scored inside to draw Maccabi even at 59-59 after thirty minutes of action.

Dibartolomeo led off the fourth quarter from deep and Sorkin dunked to put the visitors in the lead 64-62 with 5:34 remaining in regulation time. Sorkin put down another dunk, Colson dialled up long distance, Baron did the same at the other end and then scored a pair of free throws, Brown hit a turnaround jumper, Melli went from downtown to cut the lead to 71-70 with two minutes left. But Sorkin put in a pair of baskets inside and Brown added a layup to sew up Maccabi’s first road win of the season.