Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Panathinaikos 95-88 as the Greens went on a late 17-4 run to take the win and force a decisive game 5 back in Athens. With the loss, the Euroleague quarterfinal series is all knotted up at 2-2 as Maccabi will now need to find a way to become the first team to win a game five on the road.

At the club’s “home away from home” in Belgrade’s Pionir Arena, Wade Baldwin returned to the lineup after having missed games 2 and 3 due to hamstring injury and along with John Dibartolomeo helped spur the yellow-and-blue to an early lead. However, Baldwin came up lame in the second quarter and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.

Despite losing Baldwin, Oded Katash’s team stayed in the game for majority of the matchup as Bonzie Colson, Tamir Blatt and Lorenzo Brown gave Maccabi a slim 50-49 lead at halftime but Panathinakos went ahead 74-69 by the end of the third quarter thanks to big baskets by Konstantinos Mitloglou and Kostas Sloukas.

However, with close to 1,500 fans in the stands Maccabi showed signs of life to begin the final frame with baskets by Jasiel Rivero, Josh Nebo and Brown to give the hosts an 84-78 lead with 5:34 left in the game. But Kendrick Nunn, Mathias Lessort and Kostas Sloukas all started to find the basket down the stretch and outscored Maccabi over the course of the final five minutes to snatch the victory.

Brown scored 17 points while Colson and Blatt each scored 14 points in the loss while Nunn scored 27 points, Sloukas added 20 points and Lessort chipped in with 17 points in the win.

“It’s painful,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash said. “We were there and we wanted it badly, but Panathinaikos hit some shots and they scored some big plays. We were there and put in a huge effort to do so, but the guys were wiped by the end. We have to be proud of what we have done here. We had to play some lineups that we hadn’t used all season long and it was just tough. Perhaps we can do something extraordinary in game 5.”

“It was a great game” Panathinaikos Head Coach Ergin Ataman said. “This series is difficult for both teams with great respect to Maccabi that tonight they put great effort. This is especially true with John Dibartolomeo and Tamir Blatt that their extra points gave us a lot of problems defensively and also Bonzie Colson made very difficult shots. We played good defense but every mistake we made they punished us. The difference for us was Sloukas who put great character on the court. We played more hustle than the game that we lost and of course OAKA will be on fire in the next game more than always and we need to be ready to play good basketball.”

Kostas Sloukas scored off the tipoff for Panathinaikos while Josh Nebo answered for Maccabi Tel Aviv as game four got underway in earnest, Bonzie Colson and Jake Cohen scored in the paint and Wade Baldwin put down a dunk while Ioannis Papapetrou and Kendrick Nunn countered to give the visitors a 14-10 lead midway through the first quarter.

Nunn and Mathias Lessort scored, Konstantinos Mitoglu dunked, Tamir Blatt hit a jumper for two and then one for three, Jasiel Rivero followed up from deep and John Dibartolomeo scored a pair from downtown to give the yellow-and-blue a 29-26 lead after ten minutes of play.

Antonius Cleveland dialed up long distance to begin the second quarter, Nebo scored but then Baldwin who had just come back into the game reinjured his hamstring and was substituted off. Sloukas dropped a 3-point play, Colson scored, Blatt fed Nebo down low, Lessort put in a 3-point play, Lorenzo Brown scored but so did MItoglou while Marius Grigonis went from deep, Sloukas scored as the shot clock expired and Nunn hit a 3-pointer as the half came to an end with Maccabi in front by single point 50-49.

Papapetrou knocked down a corner 3-ball to begin the third quarter, Sloukas and Colson traded triples, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis scored inside, Blatt came back from deep but Lessort found points to give Ergin Ataman’s squad a 61-58 lead midway through the period. Brown scored Mitoglou dunked, Colson and Blatt drained 3-pointers, Grigonis an Mitoglou went from deep as Sloukas went in for a 3-point play to bump the Panathinaikos lead up to 74-69 after thirty minutes of action.

Rivero opened up the fourth quarter with points in the paint, Brown took the ball right down the lane for a deuce and then put in a 3-point play, Nebo dropped a pair of baskets, Rivero scored in the paint while Papapetrou and Nunn drilled home triples to cut the Maccabi lead down to 84-81 with five minutes remaining in regulation time. Blatt and Nunn traded buckets, Lessort put in a pair of points, Brown scored a layup, Nunn hit a jumper, Sloukas and Lessort scored their free throws then Sloukas dropped a deuce and Blatt missed from deep and Lessort dunked to polish off the comeback win.