Maccabi Tel Aviv came up short at ASVEL Villeurbanne 84-72 as the yellow-and-blue had a tough time all game long to score consistently and get the stops when needed. Down by ten points at the half, Oded Katash’s squad were able to go in front late in the third quarter but a 9-0 run by Yves Pons to end the frame put the hosts ahead for good.

Yam Madar opened up the game from deep while Jaylen Hoard added points a plenty for Maccabi Tel Aviv while David Lighty led the charge for ASVEL as the first quarter came to an end knotted up at 19-19. Patty Mills started to score at will, Hugo Besson and Jae Crowder also found points while Daniel Theis and Madar tried to keep the yellow-and-blue close headed into halftime down 42-32.

Roman Sorkin, Hoard and Madar all began to get into the action as the third quarter got underway while Jimmy Clark also dished and swished as Oshae Brissett scored as well but nine straight points from Yves Pons kept Tony Parker’s team ahead 62-57 after thirty minutes. Marc-Owen Fodzo Dada began to make an impact, Crowder scored with ease as Mills scored late to take the win.

Hoard scored 15 points while Madar and Sorkin each had 13 points in the loss. Crowder led all scorers with 19 points, Mills scored 15 points and Dada added 14 points in the win.

“We didn’t expect to play the way we did,” Maccabi Head Coach Oded Katash began. “We didn’t play the right way. We talked before the game that its as going to be physical and we didn’t match up in the first half. We had 20 turnovers and they were able to score cheap points. We need to learn from this and we needed more quality shots.”