Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Panathinaikos 93-87 in Athens, as the hosts used a huge fourth quarter to comeback and take the win. The yellow-and-blue took an early lead thanks to Roman Sorkin and Jaylen Hoard as Oded Katash’s team took a lot 47-37 lead at halftime. But Mathias Lessort and Kendrick Nunn started scoring with ease in the second half while Cedi Osman and Juancho Hernangomez helped the Greens to a 33-24 final frame to close out the win.

Sorkin scored 21 points, Hoard added 14 points while Rokas Jokubiatis chipped in with 13 points in the loss. Nunn scored 21 points, Lessort chipped in with 18 points while Osman and Hernangomez scored 12 points each in the win.

“I would rather win and it’s a lot more fun,” Maccabi coach Oded Katash began. “But we played well and we were just exhausted at the end. I had to decide what to do as the game came to close to teh end by either keep playing guys who were tired or using lineups that the players were not used to. We were close but that’s not enough. Panathinaikos took control of the game into fourth quarter which was the third time that this has happened to us. It’s total exhaustion at that point.”

“I think we won the game in the last 15 minutes with our aggressiveness,” Panathinaikos Head Coach Ergin Ataman said. “I knew that playing our regular rhythm we couldn’t change the game as Maccabib was very concentrated and moved the ball very well. We had to improve our defensive aggressiveness and then I changed the players putting in defensive guys and it worked out when Kendrick Nunn came back into the game as he found his points as did Cedi Osman who helped win this game.”

Roman Sorkin looked back at the loss, “We’re disappointed as we thought that we should have come out of here with a win. Now we have another game in two days as we will prepare for Olympiacos and we will do as much as we can to win the game. We have keep looking ahead.”

David DeJuilius also reflected on the game, “I think we did a great job in the first half coming out playing with intensity and playing together. In the second half I think we kind of fell apart a little bit somewhat due to things we have to work on, but credit to them as they are a great team and there was a great atmosphere.”

Rokas Jokubatis fed Jaylen Hoard for an alley-oop to begin the game, Omer Yurtseven responded, Wenyen Gabriel and Tamir Blatt scored but Matthias Lessort and Juancho Hernangomez both scored to stay close to Maccabi Tel Aviv who led 12-11 midway through the first quarter. Levi Randolph and Roman Sorkin found points, David DeJulius hit a jumper, Kendrick Nunn went from deep and Konstantinos Mitoglou scored as well but Sorkin did as well to stay in front 25-21 after ten minutes of play.

Cedi Osman and Jaylen Hoard traded baskets to begin the second quarter, Sorkin put in points under the basket, Nunn and Hoard scored at either end, Blatt drilled home a corner 3-ball but so did Mitoglou as the yellow-and-blue stayed ahead 34-31 with 5:30 left in the first half. Kostas Sloukas dished off to Mitoglou for an easy deuce, Sorkin scored on the inside and then the outside while Will Rayman cut to the hoop for points and added another basket to send Oded Katash’s squad into halftime with a 47-37 advantage.

Lessort and Jerian Grant scored to open up the third quarter, Jokubatis responded, Lorenzo Brown dunked at the other end, Nunn scored as did Hernangomez with two quick baskets, Jokubaitis nailed a corner triple while Gabriel also put in points as Maccabi kept the lead 57-51 midway through the period. Lessort and Brown powered in points, Hoard and Hernangomez went back and forth, Lessort scored again inside to cut the yellow-and-blue lead to 63-60 after thirty minutes of action.

DeJulius cut to the basket for points to get the fourth quarter going, Randolph scored a pair of baskets, Osman went from deep, Lessort dunked, Nunn scored on the inside and outside to knot the game up at 73-73 with 5:31 left in regulation time. Jokubaitis ad Osman traded triples from downtown, Grant hit an off-balance jumper for an and-one to give Ergin Ataman’s team the lead while Sorkin scored a pair of baskets, Randolph dribbled into the paint for points, but Osman did the same while Hernangomez went from beyond the arc to close out the win.