Maccabi Electra routs Besiktas for key road win

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv used a 0-18 run spanning the first and second quarters to ease to a 55-77 victory at Besiktas JK Istanbul in Top 16 Group F action in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Lior Eliyahu led the way for Maccabi with 14 points and 5 rebounds as Tel Aviv improved to 2-4 in the group. Nik Caner-Medley added 12 points while David Logan chipped in 10 points and Yogev Ohayon had 7 points and 6 assists for Maccabi. Besiktas, which made just 5 of 26 from three-point range, dropped to 0-6 despite 13 points from Serhat Cetin, 12 from Patrick Christopher and 11 from Gasper Vidmar.

First quarter: 0-10 run, blocked shots lead to big Maccabi lead

Besiktas coach Erman Kunter made two changes to his starting lineup with Daniel Ewing and Cetin coming on for Fikret Can Akin and Christopher alongside Vidmar, Damir Markota and Curtis Jerrells. Maccabi head coach David Blatt replaced Eliyahu and Darko Planinic with Shawn James and Caner-Medley alongside the trio of Devin Smith, Ricky Hickman and Ohayon. Jerrells opened the scoring with a jumper and Markota put back an offensive rebound for a 4-0 lead. Caner-Medley gave Maccabi its first points with a put back and free throw and then nailed a three-pointer to make it 4-6. Ohayon and James finished off the 0-10 run for a 4-10 Maccabi advantage. Cetin got down a jumper and Vidmar made two free throws to pull within 8-10 despite four Maccabi blocked shots in the first five minutes. Eliyahu threw down a break-away dunk and Smith knocked down a straight-on three-pointer as the lead grew to 8-15. Eliyahu hit a driving hook and scored yet again to push the cushion to 10-19. Ewing trimmed it to 12-19 but David Logan’s jumper had Maccabi up 12-21 after one quarter.

Second quarter: 0-16 run to start quarter for Maccabi

James’ free throw opened the second quarter and it would be a while before Besiktas would get on the score board. Logan converted a layup after a steal before Sylven Landesberg put back an offensive rebound and hit again to make it 12-30. Besiktas could not even get shots off and Maccabi got out on the break with Eliyahu and Smith converting in the open court and Smith’s free throw finished the 0-16 run for a 12-37 Maccabi lead. After eight missed shots and seven turnovers, Ewing finally scored for Besiktas on a layup with 2:44 remaining in the quarter to make it 14-37. Jerrells hit a basket and Akin made three free throws to trim the margin to 19-39. And it was under 20 points on Cetin’s triple to pull Besiktas to within 22-41. But Landesberg threw down a dunk just before the buzzer to send Maccabi into the locker rooms ahead 22-43.

Third quarter: Maccabi uses threes to keep Vidmar-led Besiktas at bay

Vidmar made sure Besiktas didn’t have to wait long to score in the third quarter with a dunk to open the half. Maccabi was scoreless for the first two minutes before Ohayon nailed a triple from the right corner and Caner-Medley’s trey re-established the biggest lead of 25 points – 24-49. Vidmar continued his strong play with a three-point play and another basket and Randal Falker’s free throw cut the deficit to 30-49. Vidmar’s layup also made it a 19-point game but Logan nailed two triples in the final stretches as Maccabi was ahead 35-57 after three quarters.

Fourth quarter: Eliyahu, Maccabi threes too much to mount comeback

Planinic scored his first points of the game on a hook shot to start the fourth quarter. Christopher answered with a triple and Markota knocked down a hook to trim the gap to 40-59. Eliyahu scored two baskets, the second going coast-to-coast to push the advantage back to 40-63. Markota hit inside and Cemal Nalga trimmed the gap to 45-66 before Hickman sandwiched two triples around a three by Caner-Medley for the biggest lead of the game of 28 points – 47-75 – with just more than two minutes to play. Christopher and Cetin both nailed threes in final 66 seconds for a bit of cosmetics on the final result.