Maccabi Tel Aviv came up short at Paris as they fell 96-83 in France. The hosts came out strong as Collin Malcolm, Tyson Ward and TJ Shorts overwhelmed Jaylen Hoard, Roman Sorkin and Rokas Jokubaitis and quickly built up s double digit lead that they wouldn’t relinquish as they cruised to the victory.

Hoard and Jokubatis each scored 16 points while Sorkin and Randolph added 10 points a piece in the loss. Ward scored 18 points, Nadir Hifi added 15 points, Michael Jantunen scored 13 points while Shorts scored 11 points and added 14 assists in the win.

“This was a bad game by us,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash said. “The game was decided in the first quarter and we had no energy. It’s never easy to play a double week and we started off very confused and turned over the ball. We just weren’t there and then our poor body language showed our frustrations.”

“We knew we had to start strong and one of the keys was rebounding, avoid Blatt’s 3-point shots and stop their transition,” Paris Head Coach Tiago Spliter said. “For the most part the teams was concentrated on both ends and we got the win. Maccabi put a lot of pressure on Shorts but we was able to find his teammates which he did by picking uo so many assists.”

Marial Shayok started the game off with a pair of points off the baseline for Maccabi Tel Aviv while Michael Jantunen went from deep, Kevarrius Hayes, Collin Malcolm, Tyson Ward and TJ Shorts all scored to give Paris a 12-2 lead midway through the first quarter. Jaylen Hoard dunked, Nadir Hifi and Tamir Blatt traded triples, Yakuba Ouattara scored as Ward and Malcolm both dialed up log distance to give the host a 26-11 lead after ten minutes of play.

Jantunen led off the second quarter from downtown, Ward added a deuce, Trevion Williams, Levi Randolph and Hoard tried to stop the bleeding but Maodo Lo put in a 3-point play to give Paris a 35-20 lead with 5:09 left in the half. Shayok went for a pair from deep, Jokubatis hit an off balance jumper, Hifi dialed up from long distance, Ward and Roman Sorkin traded baskets but Malcolm scored from beyond the arc to bump the Paris advantage up to 49-33 at halftime.

Jantunen continued to be the Paris player to open up a quarter with points, Ward added a deuce, Randolph hit a midrange jumper, Blatt also scored from inside the paint, while Shorts and Randolph traded baskets but a Hifi triple gave Paris a 62-43 lead midway through the third quarter. Hoard and Sorkin cut into the lead, but Shorts, Malcolm and Ward bumped the lead up to 72-56 after thirty minutes of action.

Ward went for deep, Jantunen and Jokubaitis traded baskets, John Dibartolomeo went from deep, Jokubatis put in a 3-point play, Lo drilled home a 3-pointer and scored on the inside as Williams and Dibartolomeo also scored but Hifi put the finishing touches on the win.