The Israeli champs register their first road win of the season
Maccabi runs past ALBA, 85-103
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv got back to winning ways, leading from start to finish en route to beating ALBA Berlin 85-103 on Thursday night in the German capital. Maccabi registered its first road win of the season and improved to 4-8, while ALBA dropped to a league-worst 2-10 record.
Maccabi opened the game with a 2-18 run and then pulled away for good at the end of the first half as Rokas Jokubaitis scored the first 8 points in the game on the way to a career-high 24 points plus 6 assists. Jaylen Hoard scored 18, David DeJulius had 14, while Will Rayman added 12 points in a winning effort. Matteo Spagnolo had 16 points for ALBA, Elias Rapieque scored 14 and Trevion Williams and Gabriele Procida contributed 10 apiece in a loss.
Game Videos
Jokubaitis scored the first 8 points of the game and Wenyen Gabriel blocked a pair of shots as Maccabi jumped to a 0-8 lead. Procida's dunk opened ALBA's account, but John DiBartolomeo and Hoard hit back-to-back three-pointers and Hoard scored two more baskets as the visitors extended the lead to 2-18. Ziga Samar and the newly-signed David McCormack gave ALBA life and a basket from Rapieque got ALBA within 14-25, but Hoard had a fastbreak dunk and DeJulius hit a buzzer-beating three to make it 16-32 after 10 minutes.
McCormack kept finding ways to score inside and the teams proceeded to trade baskets. Roman Sorkin had a layup on one side and a block on the other, but Malte Delow, Spagnolo and Procida got the hosts within 30-36. After Jasiel Rivero snapped an 8-0 run, Jokubaitis had a three-point play and DeJulius finished the half with 7 straight points, including a last-second three-pointer for a 36-52 halftime advantage.
Spagnolo and Procida got ALBA to a good second-half start, cutting it to 45-56. After baskets from Jokubaitis and Hoard, Jonas Mattiseck sank ALBA's first triple of the game and Procida made it 50-60. But Hoard answered with 5 points, including a triple, sparking a 2-15 run capped by a corner three from Rayman that opened a 52-75 lead.
The visitors took a 56-77 lead into the fourth quarter, which the two teams opened by trading triples. Rapieque sparked an 11-4 run that had ALBA within 78-90 with under 5 minutes to go, but Gabriel, Jokubaitis and Hoard sealed the outcome.