In Euroleague play, Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Anadolu EFES 90-88 on the road as former yellow-and-blue swingman Elijah Bryant was unstoppable to help the Turkish club to the slim victory in a game that was played in Riga, Latvia due to the ongoing security situation in both countries. Oded Katash’s team came into the game shorthanded as the club announced that center Trevion Williams had also been added to the injured list and would not take part in the contest. 

However, despite losing another player, Maccabi started the game well as Rokas Jokubatis was able to penetrate and score time and time again while Vincent Poirier and Roman Sorkin traded baskets throughout the first half that saw EFES head into halftime with a 50-46 lead. The yellow-and-blue looked to cut the advantage with points from Jake Cohen and Jokubaitis but Bryant and Shane Larkin along with Dan Oturu responded as Rodrigue Beaubois hit the decisive free throw to put the hosts ahead for good and close out the victory. 

Sorkin scored 22 points, Jokubatis added 19 points while Levi Randolph and Cohen each scored 10 points in the loss. Bryant scored 25 points, Oturu put in 15 points and Larkin scored 11 points in the win.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash spoke about the close loss, “I’m very proud of the players, I have to be honest – if someone had told me that we would be so minimally behind in the final seconds of the game, I would have thought they were laughing at me, but all the credit goes to the players. Roman Sorkin played almost 40 minutes, this is a respectable result for us even though we lost.”