Maccabi Electra, which blasted CSKA 71-54

Maccabi Electra remained undefeated at home by whipping traditional rival CSKA Moscow 71-54 in front of a packed house at Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Maccabi scored the first 10 points of the game and never looked back as it improved to 2-1 in Group C. Next week the Israeli champs travel to Italy for a showdown with group leader Lottomatica Roma. Meanwhile CSKA dropped its second in a row and the Russian champs will look to regroup next week when they host Union Olimpia. Chuck Eidson led a well-balanced Maccabi attack with 16 points, Maciej Lampe added 15, Stephane Lasme 14, Alan Anderson 13 and Doron Perkins posted 7 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Ramunas Siskauskas paced CSKA with 12 in defeat. CSKA was doomed by the 24 turnovers and its 3-for-21 three-point shooting.

Maccabi struck first as Anderson dished to Lasme, who banked in the game’s first points. Anderson added a triple and Eidson scored in the paint, while the CSKA offense struggled, committing 4 turnovers in the first three minutes. Eidson struck from downtown to make it 10-0 before Andrey Vorontsevich ended six-and-a-half scoreless minutes for CSKA. J.R. Holden went coast to coast for his team’s second basket and Zoran Planinic’s basket-plus-foul narrowed the gap to 12-7. Still a Lampe hook, an acrobatic basket by Anderson and an Eidson triple built a 19-7 lead for the hosts after 10 minutes.

Lasme stretched the Maccabi lead to 14 before Siskauskas got on the scoreboard for CSKA. Viktor Khryapa’s basket and a Siskauskas three quieted the home crows until a confident Lasme stepped outside and hit a rare jump shot. Lampe corrected his own miss as the lead reached 30-14. Dimitry Sokolov threw down a two-handed jam only to see Lampe match him with a baseline jumper. Lampe continued to pound away, first sinking a three-pointer from the corner and after Holden scored for CSKA, Lampe added a free throw. Anderson was next with a basket to take the lead to 20. Khryapa scored a nifty basket in the paint and Anton Ponkrashov drove for another score as CSKA slowly crept back and Planinic hit twice from the line with 2.5 seconds left in the half, but Maccabi called timeout and drew up an incredible two-pass play for an Anderson slam at the buzzer to keep the hosts ahead 40-25 at the halftime break.

Khryapa made a free throw to start the second half, but Maccabi picked up where it left off as Anderson and Lasme scored to stretch the lead to 18. Siskauskas answered back with a three-pointer only to see Lampe match him from Lampe. Trajan Langdon scored his first points of the game from the line and then his steal led to a Khryapa layup. Siskauskas brought the visitors within 47-35 as CSKA refused to go away. A Nikita Kurbanov slam cut the gap to 11, but soon Perkins sliced through the CSKA defense twice for layups that restored a 16-point cushion as Maccabi took a 56-40 lead into the fourth quarter.

Siskauskas banked in a jumper only to see Perkins drill a three at the other end. Anderson tried to put the finishing touches on the game, but his steal and coast-to-coast drive resulted in a missed dunk. But a minute later Anderson completed a pretty penetration for a short jumper. After Holden scored, Maccabi poured it on with baskets from D’Or Fischer and Eidson taking the lead to 23. With the outcome in the bag, Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon let captain Derrick Sharp play out the final minutes as the hosts wrapped up a big win.