Maccabi Tel Aviv may have fallen to Zalgiris 68-67 but the one point defeat allowed them to qualify for the Euroleague postseason for the second year in a row. The Yellow & Blue’s record dropped to 19-14 on the season but due losing by only one-point, they finally guaranteed a place in the playoffs but will only find out who they will play after they last regular season matchup net week against Real Madrid.

In what was a back and forth game throughout the 40 minutes, Oded Katash’s squad took a 45-42 lead at halftime with points from long distance by Jarell Martin along with terrific play from Wade Baldwin but Rolands Smits and Isaiah Taylor scored crucial baskets during the second half along with the decisive free throw to have the hosts the win.

Baldwin led the way with 12 points and 10 assists, Martin added 12 points while Josh Nebo and Lorenzo Brown each scored 11 points in the defeat. Smits scored 13 points, Taylor added 11 points and Ignas Brazdeikis scored 9 points in the win.

“It’s not easy to celebrate after a loss, but again this was a terrific accomplishment to qualify for the postseason,” Maccabi coach Oded Katash began. “Zalgiris played with a lot of heart. They played hard. It was a tough game, with high intensity. Offensively, in the second half, we missed a lot of shots, sometimes really good shots. Defensively we played the second half better than the first half, we did the right things to win the game, but unlucky in the end.”

“We started to mix our defense, one time we went switch defense, one time we went man-to-man,” Zalgiris bench boss Kazys Maksvytis said. “I think in the first half we were very predictable and had problems with our defense. Thank God we changed our defense. Maybe sometimes our offense was too static, but we won this game with our second-half defense.”

Lorenzo Brown spoke about advancing to the playoffs, “That was one of our main goals was to make the playoffs need we have been fighting for it. We have been up and down throughout teh whole season but we came late with a nice winning streak that did it. The guys are very proud of each other and we have been working hard and holding each other accountable.”

Josh Nebo put down an open dunk to get the game underway for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Rolands Smits and Ignas Brazdeikis responded for Zalgiris while Bonzie Colson and Nebo once again found points as the contest was all knotted up at 8-8 midway through the first quarter. Smits and Brazdeikis kent busy, Jarell Martin went from deep, Wade Baldwin found the bottom of the basket and Roman Sorkin added a deuce as the game was all even at 17-17 after ten minutes of play.

Achille Polonara and Darrun Hilliard traded baskets to begin the second quarter, Martin dialed up long distance, Lukas Lekavicius stole the ball and scored an easy layup, Lorenzo Brown answered from deep, but Tomas Dimsa and Polonara scored back to back buckets to keep the game close with Maccabi in front 29-27 with 6:57 left in the first half. Martin, Brown and Jake Cohen all went from deep, Smits kept scoring at will, Isaiah Taylor went from downtown but Baldwin hit nothing but net to close out the half with Oded Katash’s squad in front 45-42.

Taylor and Smits began the third quarter just as how they ended the first half with more points and Kevarius Hayes put down a one handed jam to help Zalgiris take a 50-48 lead midway through the period. Sorkin put in a pair, Taylor responded, Brown and Laurynas Birutis traded buckets as Brazdeikis scored inside to give the hosts a 56-52 lead after 30 minutes.

Baldwin got the fourth quarter started with points and then went from way, way downtown, Polonara with points, Cohen put in a 3-point play but Arnas Butkevicius dunked off the baseline and Taylor scored a layup to give Zalgiris a 65-61 lead with 5:08 remaining in regulation time. Nebo scored inside, Baldwin hit a midrange jumper, Edgaras Ulanovas found points in the paint while Taylor hit the back end of a pair of free throws to give Zalgiris the win as Maccabi qualifies for the postseason.