Maccabi Haifa Bazan improved to 2-1 in Group G of the Eurocup with a 73-94 road victory against previously undefeated VEF Riga. Donta Smith collected the fifth triple-double in Eurocup history with 18 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists as well as 2 steals for Haifa while Moran Roth had 22 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds for the winners. Brian Randle and Ike Ofoegbu both tallied 12 points for the guests and Ido Kozikaro hit for 10 points. Derrick Nix paced Riga with 14 points and 9 rebounds while Kristaps Janicenoks scored 13 points, Tomas Delininkaitis had 12 and Dee Brown added 10 points.

Kozikaro scored four points as Bazan opened a 2-7 lead. Janicenoks tallied seven points as Riga answered with a 9-0 run to go up 11-7. Ofoegbu and David Cubillan both nailed three-balls to knot the game at 13-13 and back-to-back scores by Alex Chubrevich pushed the guests ahead 17-19. Brown and Delininkaitis finished the first quarter with long balls as VEF was up 23-21 after 10 minutes. Dagan Yivzori knocked down two treys and scored all eight of his points as Maccabi Haifa reeled off a 5-20 spurt to open a 30-43 advantage. Roth’s layup at the buzzer made it 35-47. Kozikaro increased the margin to 18 points early in the third quarter, 39-57, before triples by Janicenoks and Delininkaitis got Riga back to within 45-57. Bazan had too many weapons and increased the gap back to 47-64. Brown’s trey trimmed it back to 53-64 but the guests led 55-70 after three quarters. A triple and a foul shot by Delininkaitis cut the deficit to 61-73 early in the fourth quarter but that was as close as Riga would get the rest of the way. Haifa reeled off a 2-12 run for a 63-85 lead, all but finishing the game with less than four minutes to play. The hosts would crawl to within 17 points before Smith extended the advantage to a game-high 23 points, 69-92 with a minute left.