Maccabi defeated Red Star in the… endless match!

The premiere of this year’s Cyprus tournament “Neofytos Handriotis” was shocking.

The Maccabi Tel Aviv and Red Star it took… 50 minutes, with the Israelis prevailing 112-109in the second overtime.

The first scorer for the “people’s team” was Bonzie Coulson with 18 points, while another 17.p had o Roman Sorkin. Terrible performance from Maccabi in offensive rebounds, as it had 24 and 23 defensive!

From the “red and white”, stood out Nemanja Nedovic and Luka Mitrovic with 23 points each, with Rokas Giedraitis to add 22p.

The match

Slightly better start from Maccabi in the match, going 7-4 in the first five minutes. Red Star’s reaction came with Mitrovic, who pushed him to individual scores 2-9, for +4 (9-13), at 7′. From that point on, the “red and white” were in control and thus closed the first period at +7 (13-20).

With repeated good defenses and baskets in the open field, Maccabi entered the second quarter, initially making an 8-0 run for the lead (21-20), while continuing in this way it reached +5 (31-26), at 14′. Since then, the pace of the match has risen steeply with the “red and white” tying (33-33), but the Israelis going to the locker room ahead (44-43).

Better start from the Israelis in the second half, as a result they go to +6 (53-47). Then, the “red and white” answered first to tie (53-53) with Hanga giving them the lead (61-62), but Baldwin making it 63-62 with a basket at the end of the third period.

With Lazic’s basket, Red Star entered the fourth quarter, but Maccabi responded with a 10-0 run, for +9 (73-64), in the 33rd minute. With Nedovic in front, the “red and white” got closer to the point (74-73) and with him having “warmed up” outside the 6.75m. they went to +2 (82-84), at 39′. Lorenzo Brown then tied the game (84-84), with Giedraitis missing a three-pointer, sending the game into overtime.

Maccabi started the extra five minutes with a 4-0 run by Baldwin (88-84), with Ivanovic’s team coming back and taking the lead again (90-91), in the 43rd minute. The Israelis responded with back-to-back defenses for +3 (94-91), but their missed shots and Nedovic and Dos Santos tied the game (95-95) with 7.5 minutes to go. The Brazilian guard won Rivero’s offensive foul at 3.8 and with Red Star making a mistake on the final attack, the match went to a second play.

With offensive rebounds as a “weapon”, Maccabi initially escaped to +4 (102-98), while Sorkin sent them to +7 (107-100), in the 48th minute. In the remaining time the “people’s team” was in control and took the victory with the final 112-109.

The quarters: 13-20, 44-43, 63-62, 84-84 ff., 95-95 first par., 112-109 second par.

See the match statistics here