Maccabi rolls past Panathinaikos for first win

U18 Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv captured its first win the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Belgrade by easing past U18 Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 92-61 in Group A. Harel Rinski drained 6 three-pointers in scoring 22 points to lead Maccabi, which finished group play with a 1-2 record. Yuval Levin picked up 19 points, 10 rebounds and 4 steals, Nadav Sahar scored 17 points, Amit Aharoni collected 11 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists and Shalev Ozeri chipped in 11 points in the win. Panathinaikos fell to 1-2 despite Marios Giotis scoring 25 points and Anastasios Kostopoulos hitting for 13 points.

Maccabi grabbed control of the game right away with a 23-6 run with Rinski hitting 3 three-pointers, Sahar also connecting from the outside and Aharoni converting a three-point play to go up 25-10. Stefanos Makariadis responded with two three-balls and Kostopoulos also hit from long range as Panathinaikos was within 27-23 and it was 29-23 after 10 minutes. A Nadav Yancowitz triple and another long ball from Rinkski pushed the margin out to 45-26 before Panathinaikos tightened it to 48-34 at intermission. Maccabi delivered the final knockout punch to start the second half with a 12-0 run over a 4-minute stretch to pull ahead 60-36. Sahar added another three-ball and the Israeli side was up 69-42 after 30 minutes. Another Rinski triple put Maccabi up 74-42 before Giotis began to take over with nine straight points to pull within 77-51. Levin and Aharoni both connected from long range over the next couple of minutes and Maccabi was much too far ahead to be challenged.