Maccabi Ramat Gan fell to Falco Szombathely 106-100 in double overtime as they were eliminated from the Basketball Champions League in the best-of-3 Play In series 2-1. Kendale McCullum sent the game into the extra session after stealing the ball and scoring late in regulation time.

Shmulik Brenner’s team had a chance to win the game, up 89-86 with 3 seconds left in the first overtime period, but Marcell Pongo’s last gasp heave went in from half court to knot the game up at 89-89 to head into a second overtime where Zoltan Perl, Benedek Varadi and Matt Tiby scored to take the win.

Stevens scored 24 points, Ariel added 16 points, McCullum scored 14 points in the loss. Perl scored 29 points, Varadi put in 22 points and Tiby scored 14 points in the loss.

“I want to congratulate Falco,” a disappointed Shmulik Brenner began. “It was a bitter pill to swallow and we didn’t play our best game and make easy baskets like we usually do. We fought through a very difficult situation and hats off to them. We will learn and grow from this experience.”

“It was an equal series and all three games were close and physical one ball more or less decided each game,” Falco Head Coach Milos Konakov said. “Each team wanted to go to the Round of 16. We hit an amazing shot by Pongo and we deserved it for our fans. We fought for the result and this was very close. This is one of the most craziest games in this arena since I have been here for 8 years and this will always be part of my memory.”

Adam Ariel spoke about the game form his point of view, “It’s tough and it hurts. We fought until the end, that’s the beauty of the game, we had it and they hit a tough halfcourt shot to send it to another overtime, We have to be proud and we did a helluva journey and we have to keep our heads up. Good luck to Falco.”

Benedek Varadi spoke about the win, “It was a great series and both teams respected each other and gave our best. Maybe we had a little more luck, but we worked for it and deserved it. The most important thing was to win and it was a very good result for the club. ow we want to do the best we can in the Round of 16.”

Nikola Popovic paced Falco early on while Kendale McCullum responded for Maccabi Ramat Gan to stay close by the end of the first quarter as Zoltan Perl bumped the lead up to double digits in the middle of the second period. However, Roi Huber scored from the inside and outside, Dori Sahar drilled home a trio of triples but more points from Popovic sent the hosts into halftime holding a slim 39-38 advantage.

Marvin Clark and Perl scored to begin the third quarter, Yahel Melamed and Amin Stevens responded, Bendek Varadi and Adam Ariel traded triples but points from Matt Tiby gave Falco a 64-60 lead after thirty minutes of action. Varadi and Ariel each went from deep, Stevens and Popovic traded baskets, while Tiby, Clark and Perl all scored to go up 78-72 but Stevens put down a pair of dunks and McCullum stole the ball and went in for a layup to tie the game up and send it to overtime.

Stevens and Varadi scored, Ariel and Perl did the same, Stevens scored falling down, Perl hit a fadeaway, Stevens put in more points to take the lead but Marcell Pongo hit a 3-pointer from midcourse to send the game into a send overtime period. Miles nailed a catch and shoot 3-pointer, Tiby, Perl and Varadi scored in succession, Ariel came back from deep but Perl was unstoppable as he sent his team into the Round of 16.