Maccabi Tel Aviv fell at Milano 96-87 as Gur Lavy’s career night for the yellow-and-blue was not enough against there former center Josh Nebo who starred in the victory for the Italians. The loss dropped Maccabi’s record to 14-16 and now find themselves in 13th place, three game out of a Play In spot with only eight games remaining in the regular season.

Oded Katash’s squad took a slim lead after the opening period but the hosts came back with a monster second quarter to head into halftime holding a 53-42 advantage. Maccabi continued to cut into the lead and pulled to within 84-80 in the final frame thanks to Lonnie Walker, Roman Sorkin and Lavy, but Nebo scored on the inside and Shavon Shields found points from the outside to pull away and record the victory. Walker scored 16 points, Lavy added 15 points while Sorkin and Jimmy Clark each scored 13 points in the loss. Nebo scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Shields put in 17 points and Zach LeDay scored 15 points in the win.

“We played against a good team and they shot the ball really well,” Maccabi head coach Oded Kattash said. “We did a better job in the second half and the most important thing is that we kept fighting. We have a week to recover and get the next one.”

Milano Head Coach Pepe Poeta reflected on the win, “We had three very solid quarters and we handled the endgame in a proper way. It’s impossible to take away everything from a team as talented on offense as Maccabi but we did a good job limiting them and with this spirit we will try to reach the postseason.”

The game MVP Josh Nebo added, “In the past we had some trouble in the fourth quarter and today was a big step forward in responding to their run and closing the game out. It was a tough game and we’re trying to push for a spot in the playoffs, so I try to bring my best effort to every matchup. The race is very tight so we’re trying to take it one game at a time and if we keep fighting like we did tonight, we’ve got a good chance.”

Gur Lavy also spoke about the game, “Unfortunately, these past two weeks have thrown us a bit off our rhythm. Our minds are with the families at home and with the people of Israel. During the game there were sirens and our hearts are with the Israelis. We have another game next week, and we hope to come away with a win.”