Maccabi Tel Aviv got back onto the winning track as the yellow-and-blue absolutely demolished a very short handed ALBA Berlin team and they did it in style. First off Rokas Jokubaitis went for the jugular right from the get go as he scored 8 straight points to get things going for Oded Katash’s squad and finished with a career high 24 points for the game. Next John Dibartolomeo set the Euroleague free throw streak with 70 straight from the line eclipsing Kevin Punter’s mark.

Wenyen Gabriel looked mighty fine with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks while Will Rayman provided the spark off the bench with suffocating defense, all energy and 12 points. By the way, did we forget to mention Jaylen Hoard’s 18 points and 4(!) steals as well as David DeJulius’s 14 points?

It was a remarkable evening, but one that should be taken into proportion due to the opponent on the opposite side of the floor.

However, a win is a win is a win and Maccabi needed one desperately in continental action after having fallen in 4 straight contests with their last win coming back at the end of October over Real Madrid.

“This was a really good team win,” Rayman said following the victory. “And it’s really important for us because we lost some in a row. So it’s good to get some confidence from this win as we look towards next week’s double week so hopefully we can build on the momentum from this one.”

Captain John Dibartolomeo was all smiles after the game as well, “We got off to a good start which I was happy with and then we were able to maintain it. ALBA plays very fast there’s a lot of possessions, they could make a lot of runs especially in their home gym and they did exactly that. But we were able to weather it which I think was a big step for us in our growth as a team.”

Both Rayman and Dibartolomeo made their mark in this game with the former putting in points a plenty while the latter put his name in the history as Mr. Consistent from the charity stripe. However, the always modest Rayman (and the same can be said of Dibartolomeo) wanted to give credit where credit is due for his showing.

“I just try to help the team in any way I can,” Rayman exclaimed. “Today my teammates were finding me and I was able to make some shots and play some defense. But honestly I’m just really happy with the win and really happy it was a team win and everyone played so well so it’s really fun.”

As for Dibartolomeo, he didn’t want to dwell to long on the record setting night and perhaps didn’t even realize that her was about to make history as he was more into the team taking home the victory, “I was told at halftime and I don’t live being told in the middle of the game as I think it’s a little distraction and I was a little worried I was going to miss one in the second half. But honestly it’s cool to make history but the storyline here is that we were able to get back on the winning side in Euroleague play.”

The yellow-and-blue will try to build off of this win with a pair of clashes next week at their home away from home in Belgrade but it won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination with games against upstart Paris and the always dangerous Barcelona who are coming off a Derby defeat to Real Madrid.

Maccabi will get to see their fans on Saturday night back at Yad Eliyahu against Maccabi Ramat Gan, but ultimately with the ceasefire now in effect in the north and the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip wrapping up, the club and players would love to get back to playing their Euroleague home games in Tel Aviv.

However, the Maccabi fans from far and wide showed up in Berlin despite the threats of huge anti-Israel protests but that did bring in a large police presence. Whether they were from Israel, Germany or anywhere else, the yellow-and-blue supporters showed their love for the team when they needed it most the captain explained, “From the start of the game when they introduced the club and the players, the support was amazing and it made me miss our Euroleague home crowd of course. But to get that kind of support on the road these days was truly awesome.”

Rayman, who has yet to experience a packed Yad Eliyahu on a Euroleague Thursday night is waiting for that opportunity to arise, hopefully sooner rather than later.

“It makes me want to play back in Menora. The fans are awesome and they all showed up here which was really fun and it gave us a lot of energy so I couldn’t imagine a full Menora. I’ve seen it but as a fan at the game but I’ve never actually played in front of it sold out, so I’m excited. Hopefully, we can get back there at some point but I’m just happy for all the fans that showed up here and it just shows how much they love Maccabi. It was great seeing Israeli flags out there so it was good.”