Maccabi, Tyus dominate boards, Milan

Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv got back to its winnings ways by topping visiting AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan 79-68 at Menora Mivtachim Arena on Thursday night. Maccabi improved to 3-2 on the season behind a dominating performance on the glass led by Alex Tyus. Maccabi outrebounded the visitors 49-30 and tied its EuroLeague club record with 19 offensive boards. Tyus shined with a career-high 15 rebounds, including a club record 8 on the offensive end. The hosts pulled away to a double-digit margin in the second quarter and held a 10-point halftime lead despite going 0-for-7 from three-point range. Maccabi extended the margin right away in the third quarter, and comfortably closed out the game with six scorers in double figures. DeShaun Thomas had 14 points plus 8 rebounds, while Deandre Kane and Tyus scored 12 apiece. Norris Cole had 10 points, 8 assists and 3 steals and Artsiom Parakhouski and Pierre Jackson each also contributed 10 points in victory. Dairis Bertans led the way for Milan with 13 points, Arturas Gudaitis added 11, Kaleb Tarczewski had 10 points and 7 rebounds and Andrew Goudelock in his return to Tel Aviv where he played last season, scored 10 points, too.

Maccabi went to work inside from the start with a pair of baskets from Parakhouski and driving layups from Jackson and Michael Roll. Tarczewski scored the first 7 points for Milan, including a powerful dunk, as the visitors got within 8-7. Tyus had a pair of put-backs, but a dunk from Amath M’Baye and a three-point play from Goudelock tied it at 14-14. However, Maccabi started pulling away. A second-chance basket from Thomas and a dunk by Tyus made it 18-14 at the end of the first quarter. At the start of the second, Thomas once and Kane twice scored from close range. Another Tyus put-back and a fastbreak layup from Cole helped open a 31-18 advantage. Milan was held to only 2 field goals in the first six minutes of the quarter before Bertans knocked down back-to-back triples that cut it to 33-24. But Tyus had another put- back, after his sixth offensive board, to keep Maccabi ahead. Despite Mantas Kalnietis hitting a three-pointer for the visitors, Maccabi led 39-29 at the break.

With a pair of three-pointers from Roll, Maccabi’s first of the night, and 5 points from Jackson, including a three-point play, the hosts opened a 50-34 lead. Bertans and Goudelock made layups high off the glass for Milan, but Cole fed Kane with a no-look pass for an easy fastbreak layup, and Thomas and Parakhouski had put-backs to help open a 60-40 margin. A big dunk from Gudaitis ended the scoring in third quarter and an easy layup from Parakhouski opened the fourth. Cole scored 4 points to extend the biggest margin of the night, 66-45, before Milan cut into the deficit with a three-point play from Gudaitis and a three-pointer from Goudelock. Maccabi kept the margin above 15 points until Kalnietis hit a corner triple that made it 72-59 with 3:40 left, but did not come closer than that until the final buzzer, which Jordan Theodore just beat with a dunk to end the game.