Maccabi Tel Aviv clipped Panathinaikos 91-87 as Bonzie Colson and Lorenzo Brown led a heroic fourth quarter comeback to hand the yellow-and-blue a 1-0 quarterfinal series lead at the OAKA Arena. Game two will be back in Athens on Thursday (21:15) as Maccabi will look to take a commanding 2-0 lead and send the series to their home away from home due to the war back in Belgrade for game 3 and 4 if necessary.

Head Coach Oded Katash’s squad grabbed an early lead as Jake Cohen paced Maccabi, however, Kostas Sloukas, Luca Vildoza and Kendrick Nunn gave Ergin Ataman’s team a 50-42 halftime advantage.

Mathias Lessort and Wade Baldwin scored for their respective sides in the third quarter as Panathinaikos stayed in front 70-63, but the latter came up with a left leg injury in the fourth quarter as he helped Maccabi cut down the lead. However, Colson and Brown quickly picked up the slack with points from the outside and inside to take the lead while Josh Nebo hit a pair of crucial free throws to ice the game and steal game one.

Colson scored 18 points, Brown added 16 points and Baldwin chipped in with 15 points in the win. Lessort scored 22 points, Sloukas put in 12 points and Jerian Grant scored 11 points in the loss.

“I think we were done 8 points at halftime and we were a little bit confused defensively,” Oded Katash began. “We came back to our game plan and we hit some big shots on big possessions on offense. But it was everything defensively as we showed character and I am very proud. I hope Wade Baldwin’s injury is not that bad. The last possession and last minute is always big plays by big players on both sides. They missed their shot and we made it, but I am proud that we stuck in there and we stayed focused and believed. I am really happy.”

“I believe that we didn’t deserve to win,” Ergin Ataman said. “We missed 10 free throws, we made a lot of turnovers and in the last two minutes and everybody, player, staff and club that tried to make a festival before the game but we didn’t deserve to win. The referees with two ridiculous calls and a 3 point shots for Baldwin. I complained that it’s not fair to give that 3 point shot, everything went against us and we lost the game and lost the advantage and destroyed 7 months work that we made in the regular season. If we will not go to the Final 4 I will not be at Panathinaikos next year.”

The game MVP Bonzie Colson spoke about the victory, “I wanted to play my game and we just fought until the end, but it was a group effort and at halftime we spoke about what got us to this point and we did that. Everybody stepped up and it’s one down. We stuck to what we do, play good defense and hitting good shots when we need to and just staying together as we showed our resiliency and we just got to keep it up.”

Josh Nebo looked back at the victory, “We stick with it, we know that in playoff basketball the game isn’t going to be won in the first quarter and we had to be resilient. if they go up we have to keep playing and we can’t get too high or too low. We stuck to the game plan and believe in one another and we found a way to win the game. In a game like this you have to find a way and even though we’re tired we had to dig down deep as this is the most important part of the season.

Konstantinos Mitoglou and Kendrick Nunn scored for Panathinaikos as Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown did the same for Maccabi Tel Aviv while Jake Cohen had the hot hand for a pair of baskets to give the yellow-and-blue and early 9-7 lead midway through the first quarter. Nunn scored in the paint, Cohen drilled one from deep, Kostas Sloukas came in for a layup off the wing, Josh Nebo dunked Marius Grigonis dialed up from long distance as did Brown as the frantic end-to-end pace continued.

Baldwin hit a trio of free throws, Grigonis and Sloukas went from deep, Jasiel Rivero scored inside, Grigonis again went for a corner 3-ball, Matthias Lessort put down a monster dunk but Maccabi held a 26-25 lead after ten minutes of action.

Jerian Grant opened the second quarter with an off balance jumper, Tamir Blatt went from deep, Luca Vildoza did the same, Lessort put in a deuce, Grant scored while Nebo jammed but a pair of triples from Vildoza gave the hosts a 43-32 lead with five minutes left in the half. Colson put in a 3-point play as Nunn picked up his 3rd foul, Juancho Hernangomez and Nebo traded baskets and Lessort dunked as Ergin Ataman’s squad took a 50-42 advantage into halftime.

Baldwin scored to begin the third quarter, Sloukas scored off a Brown turnover, Colson went from deep, Mitoglou put in a one handed put-back but Brown responded to cut the lead to 60-54 midway through the frame. Antonius Cleveland checked in with a 3-point play, Rivero put in a James Webb miss, Lessort dunked, Webb did the same but Panagiotis Kalaitzakis scored his free throws to stay in front 70-63 after thirty minutes of action.

Baldwin got the fourth quarter off and running with a 3-point play and added a pair from the charity stripe, Colson drilled in a 3-pointer, Lessort and Baldwin traded buckets, Rivero and Lessort did the same, Colson and Brown went from beyond the arc to snatch a 81-77 lead with 5:56 remaining in regulation time. Grant came back with points, Colson scored in the paint, Blatt fed Nebo for an alley-oop. Grant knocked down a corner 3-ball, Nunn scored to tie the game up at 87-87 with 56 seconds left.

Brown came in for a layup, Sloukas threw the ball away on the Panathinaikos offensive possession as Nebo drained a pair of free throws to close out the win.