Jackson show gives Maccabi big win in Bamberg

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv got a magical performance from Pierre Jackson to start its Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season with a strong 71-88 victory at Brose Bamberg. Jackson collected 27 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds for a performance index rating of 41 in his first EuroLeague game for Maccabi, which used a 0-19 run in the fourth quarter to win the game. The winners also got 16 points from Michael Roll and 12 from Alex Tyus, while Art Parakhouski chipped in 10 points and 3 blocks. Brose was paced by Nikos Zisis with 16 points and 5 assists. Leon Radosevic added 12 points and both Augustine Rubit and Ricky Hickman scored 10 points. Brose struggled with its long-range shooting, making just 7 of 24 (29%) and the home side could not stop Jackson.

Radosevic’s layup opened the scoring for Brose’s first points of the season. Parakhouski did the honors for Maccabi to even the score 2-2. Brose did a good job getting to the rim with layups by Radosevic and Daniel Hackett for a 9-4 cushion. Bryce Taylor joined the scoring with a three-pointer and transition layup as the hosts’ lead grew to 14-8 with Maccabi held scoreless for nearly two minutes. Two Rubit tallies helped increase the gap to 20-12. Another Parakhouski basket had it 20-14 after 10 minutes. Both sides struggled scoring early in second quarter with yet another Parakhouski score cutting the gap to 20-18. Brose finally got onto the scoreboard after two and a half minutes on a Zisis jumper. Luka Mitrovic and Zisis knocked down back-to-back three-pointers and the lead grew to 30-22. Tyus made his presence felt off the bench with two inside baskets to trim the margin to 32-29. Brose failed to execute on offense, allowing Maccabi to go on an 0-8 spurt with two transition layups from Jackson and a Norris Cole layup for a 34-37 lead. Radosevic snapped Brose’s nearly three-minute scoreless stretch with a put-back. The score was 36-37 at intermission.

Radosevic free throws opened the second half and put the hosts back ahead. But Parakhouski came through with a big block and a put-back in a 0-7 spurt to put Maccabi up 38-44. Zisis stopped the run and a Hickman three-pointer helped get Brose to within 45-46. Zizis also hit from long range to put Brose up 50-48. The lead switched hands four times before Lucca Staiger came off the Brose bench for the first time and nailed a three-pointer for a 59-55 cushion after three quarters. Tyus hit the first score of the fourth quarter and a Rubit put-back giving Brose a 63-59 lead. Jackson answered with a three-pointer and began heating up. Rubit dunked to even the game at 67-67 with more than six minutes to play. But then it was the Pierre Jackson show with 3 three-pointers and an assist for a Tyus alley-oop dunk in a 0-19 run for a 67-86 advantage. By the time Zisis scored with less than two minutes to play to snap the 4:52-minute scoring drought, the game had been decided.