Maccabi Tel Aviv ran all over Barcelona 104-80 as the Yellow & Blue rained 3-pointers all night long to notch the victory that keeps their hopes to finish in 5th place overall alive as they moved their overall record to 16-11. For the game, Avi Even’s squad scored 16 of 27 3-point attempts while the hosts coughed up the ball 19 times as Maccabi took full advantage of their fine performance to cruise to the win.

The Yellow & Blue began hitting their shots from the outside and put the pressure on the hosts right from the get go as five players finished with double digits with Scottie Wilbekin notching five 3-pointers and James Nunnally scoring important points to help the visitors open up a 42-31 gap at halftime. Roman Sorkin and Derrick Williams continued to find the basket in the second half while Jalen Reynolds, Iftach Ziv and Keenan Evans all added points to take the 24-point victory.

Wilbekin led all scorers with 20 points, Nunnally added 18 points, Sorkin put in 13 points and Williams chipped in with 12 points in the victory. Alex Abrines scored 17 points and Nikola Mirotic added 13 points in the defeat.

Avi Even commented on the horrific terror attacks in Tel Aviv and the victory at Barcelona, “Before I talk about the game, these are tough moments for me, for my team, for the organization and for my country as we had another terror attack that hit Tel Aviv and hit our country. This is tough, tough, tough for me to talk about the game.”

“We had some good minutes on defense and I liked the way we shared the ball. I’m happy we won the game. We are thinking one game at a time and not where we are going to finish, it doesn’t matter to us. The main thing is for us to play consistent basketball.”

James Nunnally also spoke about attacks and the game that was, “We locked in on defense and got our offense going. We are growing and building each and every day, that’s the goal and we’re doing it at the right time. There was a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv and we are with you, Tel Aviv and Israel. It’s a sad thing we got to stop the violence.”

Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius reflected on the attacks, “I want to send my deepest condolences for the families who are suffering and obviously it’s a very special place for me and it’s really sad. I remember the last time these things happened in Tel Aviv and a lot of people would talk about the Middle East. But for me it was always one of the safest places to live and I had a normal life there. I am so sorry as to what happened.”

Derrick Williams put Maccabi Tel Aviv on the board first with a pair of points, Alex Abrines, James Nnaji and Nikola Mirotic all responded for Barcelona but James Nunnally scored in the paint and also drilled home a catch and shoot triple as the game was all knotted up 10-10 midway through the first quarter.

Keenan Evans found his first points of the night and then added a 3-pointer along with Williams, Mirotic and Abrines went from deep as did Sergi Martinez but Nunnally hit another one from downtown to give the Yellow & Blue a 27-23 lead after ten minutes of end to end action.

The long distance festival continued into the second quarter as Angelo Caloiaro joined the party and Jalen Reynolds put down an alley-oop but Nigel Hayes-Davis and Abrines came back with points to cut the Maccabi lead to 36-31 with 6:17 remaining in the first half. Nunnally hit a floater and Iftach Ziv stripped the ball off of Dante Exum for a quick layup and Roman Sorkin finished off a nice team play to go up by double-digits 42-31.

Exum put down poster over Sorkin, Abrines hit another 3-pointer, Nunnally gave a no look pass to Sorkin who came like a Mack Truck through the lane, Wilbekin continued the frantic pace with a pair of triples and then a Hail Mary from way downtown to give Avi Even’s team a 57-46 advantage at halftime.

Williams began the third quarter with points, Nick Calathes responded with a pair of baskets and Abrines went from deep but Maccabi stayed in front 63-56 midway through the period. Reynolds scored in the paint, Mirotic and Nnaji answered for Barcelona, Rokas Jokubaitis scored two buckets for Saras Jasikevicius’s team but Khyri Thomas drained a 3-pointer as Maccabi continued to lead 76-68 after thirty minutes of play.

Hayes-Davis started off the court quarter with points, Sorkin dialed up long distance, Nunnally added another basket, Wilbekin went from deep and Thomas scored a lay-up to give Maccabi an 86-72 lead with 6:29 remaining in regulation time. Ziv drilled home a 3-pointer, Wilbekin put in a left handed floater and another triple as did Sorkin while Evans scored as well to wrap up the blow out win.