Maccabi Tel Aviv held on to defeat Valencia 85-82 as five players scored in double digits to notch their fourth Euroleague win in a row to bump their record up to 7-10 with road games at Partizan Belgrade and Bayern Munich coming up to end the first round of games.

With the game being held in the Jerusalem Arena due to Yad Eliyahu being booked with the Hanukah Festival, Maccabi still felt at home as Iffe Lundberg and Lonnie Walker paced the yellow-and-blue early on while Kameron Taylor and Jean Montero countered but Oded Katash’s squad took a 47-41 lead into halftime.

Jimmy Clark and TJ Leaf took control of the game in the second half but Brancou Badio and Matt Costello helped close a double digit gap as Pedro Martinez’s team pulled to within just 3-points with a 9-0 run as time wound down. However, Darius Thompson and Jean Montero both came up short from beyond the arc as Maccabi escaped with the victory in the capital city.

Walker scored 14 points, Lundberg added 12 points while Leaf and Clark each scored 11 points in the win. Taylor scored 15 points, Badio put in 14 points while Costello scored 13 points in the loss.

Oded Katash looked back at the win, “We were lucky at the end and a little more experience we should use fouls, but sometimes you can use some luck. In a double week you don’t have a lot of time to prepare and you have to stick to the game plan and play tight defense. The crowd was amazing and it’s always fun to win. It was very special.”

Pedro Martinez reflected on the loss, “We had trouble from deep but w heave to give credit to their defense, we had open shots but some were just not good because Maccabi played very good defense and that made it difficult for us.”

TJ Leaf spoke about how the team is coming together, “It’s been a process for all of us, individually and as a team and you’re starting to see those things come to fruition. We’re just going to keep our heads down and block out any noise we might hear, good or bad and keep the process going.”

Iffe Lundberg shared his thoughts about joining Maccabi recently and making a positive impression from the get go, “I’m just trying to get acclimated into the concepts and system and I’m just trying to win games. That’s what we’re doing right now, so I am very happy. We just have to stay humble and keep working every day. We have a really talented group and if we just stay even-keeled and work hard every day, we can compete this season.”

Oshae Brissett and Lonnie Walker led off the game from deep for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Kameron Taylor and Omari Moore scored for Valencia in the early goings as did Matt Costello, Iffe Lundberg and Will Rayman came back from downtown, Marcio Santos put in a pair of buckets but a Jaime Pradilla basket gave the visitors a 21-19 lead after ten minutes of play.

Lundberg scored to get the second quarter underway, Kameron Taylor drilled home a corner 3-ball, TJ Leaf dunked at the other end, John Dibartolomeo drained a triple, Jean Montero put in a reverse layup, but a 3-point play by Leaf followed up by fast break baskets from Jaylen Hoard and Jimmy Clark gave Maccabi a 33-28 lead midway through the second quarter.

Josep Puerto and Lonnie Walker traded baskets, Moore scored in the paint and Montero put in an acrobatic layup, Walker dropped a 4-point play, Darius Thompson dunked and Montero drilled home a triple, Lundberg came back with 4 straight points and Roman Sorkin scored to give the yellow-and-blue a 47-41 advantage at halftime.

Pradilla went from deep to open up the third quarter, Sorkin put in a 3-point play at the other end, Costello and Walker traded triples, Badio also went from downtown, Lundberg put in points, Leaf cleaned up a miss and Clark went in for a dunkaroo to bump the Maccabi lead up to 70-61 after thirty minutes of action.

Rayman put in a deuce to begin the fourth quarter, Leaf went off the glass, Reuvers drained one from deep, Clark put in a reverse layup and added a 3-point play, Badio drilled in a corner 3-ball, Lundberg thread the needle to Hoard for a deuce, Taylor hit a 3-pointer and Costello scored in the paint to pull to within 3-points but multiple misses by Valencia as time wound down handed the win to Maccabi.