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<\/p>\nMaccabi Tel Aviv defeated Fenerbah\u00e7e Istanbul 94-76 on Thursday night in Belgrade after an emphatic second-half performance, in the first EuroLeague game in nearly three weeks after the State Cup break (in which both Maccabi and Fenerbah\u00e7e won their respective State Cups) and international window.<\/p>\n
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While Maccabi\u2019s European season is all but over, sitting 17th<\/sup> place in the standings (7 wins and 20 losses), this didn\u2019t stop the Yellow & Blue from putting in one of their best performances of the season against a Fenerbah\u00e7e outfit which sits 2nd<\/sup> place in the standings (17 wins and 9 losses).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Like many other teams over the last two weeks, Maccabi paid their own tribute to the hostages, in particular Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas (whose bodies were returned to Israel last week and who were buried on Thursday after their cruel murder at the hands of Hamas), with the players wearing orange and black patches on their jerseys and a 45-meter orange and black banner draped across the stands.<\/p>\n Maccabi came out of the gates strongly in the first frame, with Jimmy Clark III impressing in his first EuroLeague minutes with 3 points and 3 assists and Roman Sorkin with 8 points and 2 rebounds, helping Maccabi to a 25-21 lead after 10 minutes. While the teams traded buckets for most of the second quarter, Fenerbah\u00e7e enjoyed a 10-0 run in the last two minutes to give the visitors a 46-41 lead going into the main break, with ex-Maccabi stars, forward Bonzie Colson and guard Wade Baldwin III, adding 10 and 9 points respectively up to halftime.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While the third quarter has been challenging for Maccabi this season, the Yellow & Blue continued their strong second half form which saw them defeat Jerusalem to win the State Cup earlier this month, with early points to Clark, Jasiel Rivero and Levi Randolph seeing them steal the lead back from Fenerbah\u00e7e a few minutes into the second half. The teams then continued to trade points, but 6 points from Sorkin and 7 points from young star Omer Mayer in the latter half of the period helped Maccabi win the third quarter 31-17 and take a commanding 72-63 lead into the final term.<\/p>\n Maccabi captain John DiBartolomeo started the last quarter with a three-pointer to push the lead out to double-digits. Although Fenerbah\u00e7e tried to stay with the home team, they only managed 13 points for the quarter to Maccabi\u2019s 22, with Randolph and Sorkin adding 8 and 5 points respectively for the frame to give Maccabi a convincing 18-point victory.<\/p>\n Sorkin (21 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block), Rivero (18 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist), Randolph (16 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 steals) and DiBartolomeo (13 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist) led the way for Maccabi, while Baldwin (12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal), Nigel Hayes-Davis (12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block) and Colson (11 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 block) were in double-figures for Fenerbah\u00e7e.<\/p>\n Oded Katash – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWe were not expecting this,\u201d Maccabi coach Oded Katash said after the game. \u201cComing into this game without our main two point guards [Tamir Blatt and Rokas Jokubaitis ] and without Jaylen [Hoard, Maccabi\u2019s superstar big] and Rafi Menco [Israeli forward], who stayed home with injury, we missed a lot of players and we did not come with big expectations, but I\u2019m really proud of the way we played. A lot of players stepped up. Right from the beginning, we played the right way, including Jimmy [Clark], who just joined us four-five days ago. So that\u2019s a big win for us in in the end. We wanted the rebounds, we wanted some of the fifty-fifty balls. We did better on the second half, and that\u2019s a great win for us.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCongratulations to Oded, congratulations to Maccabi,\u201d Fenerbah\u00e7e coach and ex-Maccabi star \u0160ar\u016bnas Jasikevi\u010dius said after the game. \u201cI thought that we didn\u2019t come with the right mentality in the game from the beginning. Maccabi was taking fifty-fifty balls, jumping all over our heads. When we tried to play a little bit better in the second quarter we were able to get a lead, but in the third quarter we came out with a very bad mentality. We gave up 31 points, I tried to put the players on the court without foul trouble at the beginning and didn\u2019t succeed. It was a very bad evening for us and we need to get back to what got us good at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While the focus was the basketball, it\u2019s hard for anyone at Maccabi to avoid everything that\u2019s happening off the court and back home. Coach and players spoke to the significance of wearing the orange and black patches and the display of the orange and black banner.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the least that we could do, it\u2019s a huge honor to pay respects to the people in Israel, the families who have experienced this,\u201d Katash said. \u201cFrom this point, we have had a few emotional weeks. Hostages who returned, then remains of hostages, something that is very emotional. I really hope that after suffering the 7th<\/sup> of October, I hope that we keep this unity which we have experienced in the last few days, because keeping our solidarity is the only way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cObviously it was really important for us to have it, \u201d captain DiBartolomeo said. \u201cWhat the ribbon signifies, with the hostages and obviously the Bibas family, the symbol they\u2019ve become throughout this war, of the innocence that was taken on October 7, of the patches and banner which were on display during the game. So it was really important for us to have that today. Things have progressed, we\u2019ve gotten more people home, but we wait for the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy that we had a win here,\u201d Sorkin said. \u201cI think that today the win is important, but more important is our dear Bibas family, our hearts are with them, we played with the orange patches. It\u2019s important to remember to be with them at these times \u2013 embracing them, support, everything that they need. It\u2019s incomprehensible. If we\u2019re able to bring them just a little smile, we played with the patches, that\u2019s everything.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As for the game itself, in addition to their own leading performances, DiBartolomeo and Sorkin gave praise to Clark (7 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists and 1 block) and Mayer (7 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists) for playing their key parts in the win in the absence the team\u2019s leading point guards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt was tough playing without so many key guys,\u201d DiBartolomeo said. \u201cI\u2019m really proud of how everyone stepped up, everyone was ready to play, everyone was ready to give extra. I think our energy and our aggressiveness on both ends really made up for our lack of creatives tonight. I\u2019m just proud that we were able to beat a very good team.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cJimmy I thought was great tonight jumping in,\u201d DiBartolomeo continued. \u201cHe\u2019s only had a couple of days practice and this was a EuroLeague game against one of the best teams in the league is not easy. I thought he controlled the game veery well when he was out there. Omer stepped up great. We see him all the time, putting in the work. I was happy that he was given the opportunity and tonight he really took advantage. He came out aggressive, he was talking, he wasn\u2019t afraid of the moment and the sky\u2019s the limit for him.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe played better on defense,\u201d Sorkin continued. \u201cIn the first half we gave up 46 points. I don\u2019t know how many we gave up in the second half, but I\u2019m sur that it was less. We played our game. We have new players \u2013 Omer and Jimmy. Not that Omer is new, but he hasn\u2019t played meaningful minutes before. No one is happier than me to see him succeed. It\u2019s not easy to lead the team. We\u2019re happy, it\u2019s a win, we need to look forward. We\u2019ve had a good period recently, so we want to continue with this momentum in the League and what remains in the EuroLeague, it hasn\u2019t finished and we still have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo credit: Dov Halickman, Yehuda Halickman<\/p><\/div>\n Maccabi now returns to Israel to prepare for an Israeli League derby matchup against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi\u2019s first League away fixture at Yad Eliyahu, on Sunday (21:05 IST \/ 14:05 EST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Fenerbah\u00e7e Istanbul 94-76 on Thursday night in Belgrade after an emphatic second-half performance, in the first EuroLeague game in nearly three weeks after the State Cup break (in which both Maccabi and Fenerbah\u00e7e won their respective State Cups) and international window. While Maccabi\u2019s European season is all but over, sitting 17th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":134995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/IMG-20250227-WA0395.jpg\")
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