Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Milano 98-90 as Lorenzo Brown came up clutch down the stretch to help the yellow-and-blue take the win. Oded Katash’s squad came out strong but the hosts led by Nikola Mirotic, Shavon Shields and Johannes Voightmann controlled the pace of play throughout the first half. However, Jasiel Rivero pushed Maccabi into the lead in the third quarter while Brown and Josh Nebo sealed the victory in the final frame to hand the visitors the win.
Five players finished in double digits for the yellow-and-blue as they moved their record to 3-2 on the season with a date against Bayern Munich next Thursday at their temporary home in Belgrade.
Rivero led the way on his birthday with 21 points, Brown added 20 points and 12 assists, Bonzie Colson scored 16 points, while Antonius Cleveland scored 15 points and Nebo chipped in with 14 points in the win. Mirotic paced Milano with 24 points, Shields added 22 points and Voightmann scored 18 points in the loss.

Oded Katash – Photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv
“I’m very proud of the guys and we came after a big loss, bad game it was not only the result, it was the way we lost,” Katash explained. “We stuck together and showed some character we promised we would pick up each other and stay together, we fought. We spoke at halftime about correcting a few things, control the rebound and I am so happy for our fans in Israel, we miss them, we really miss them. It was a great win for us, Milano is a great team with a lot of size. I’m very happy.”
“We lost game that we had 25 assists and shot 40% from 3 and 64% from 2,” a disappointed Ettore Messina said. “It’s another game that we gave up 100 points. We are very worried as what has always been our identity to play a strong defense and protect the halfcourt has disappeared. Maccabi ran, Maccabi rebounded on offense, Maccabi scored on the pick and roll and Maccabi scored on isolation, it was embarrassing.

Lorenzo Brown – Photo Credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv
The game MVP Lorenzo Brown spoke about the victory, “We just going through lot this month but we are finding a way to balance it out and play as a team. Lack of practice and lack of games but we have to come in every night and play with intensity and that’s what got us this win. We have to stay focused, that’s our main goal right now as it’s a weird situation and we are trying to stay together as a team.”

Antonius Cleveland – Photo Credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv
Antonius Cleveland put down a poster dunk on Nikola Mirotic, Lorenzo Brown dialed up long distance and James Webb went from deep but Maodo Lo and Mirotic responded for Milano as the game was all knotted up at 10-10 midway through the first quarter. Brown took the ball to the rack, Cleveland and Josh Nebo found points, Johannes Voightmann answered, Bonzie Colson hit a long two, but Mirotic from the inside and outside, Alex Poythress and Shavon Shields continued to score for the hosts as did Kevin Pangos to give Milano a 32-25 lead after ten minutes of play.

Jasiel Rivero – Photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv
Jasiel Rivero and Cleveland with points for Oded Katash’s team, Shields came back for Ettore Messina’s team but Colson with points a plenty pulled Maccabi to within 3-points, 39-36 with five minutes left in the second quarter. Poythress and Voightmann bumped the lead right back up, Rivero and Cleveland scored as did Nebo to cut the lead but a Mirotic triple sent Milano into half-time with a 52-50 advantage.

Bonzie Colson – Photo Credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv
Shields went from downtown, Lo scored a deuce as did Voightmann while Nebo scored a pair at the other end, Colson chalked up a 3-point play and Brown went from deep but Voightmann and Shields scored yet again to stay in front 65-62 midway through the third quarter. Mirotic and Voightmann for Milan, Blatt and Rivero answered right back to give Maccabi a 75-72 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Maccabi Tel Aviv – Photo Credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv
Kyle Hines began the fourth quarter with points, Cleveland came back with a 3-point play, Colson added a dunk but Mirotic drained one from deep to keep pace as Maccabi club to a 81-79 lead. Rivero scored, Shields came back with a 3-pointer, Brown dropped two from downtown and Tamir Blatt fed Nebo for a deuce to wrap up the win.
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