Scottie Wilbekin leads Maccabi to an upset victory over CSKA / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Seffi Magriso/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Seffi Magriso/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (11-12) stunned CSKA Moscow (14-10) at home in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, easily taking care of the visitors 84-75 (23-17, 26-11, 18-18, 17-29).

Player of the Game EFF 25 Scottie Wilbekin Points 23 Accuracy 7-12 Rebounds 2 Assists 3

CSKA started the game with an impressive 11-2 run, only allowing Maccabi to score two points in the first three and a half minutes. However, Maccabi stormed back, tying the game at 13 and gaining a six-point advantage after a last-second buzzer-beater by Scottie Wilbekin (23-17).

Maccabi continued asserting their dominance in the second, gaining a double-digit advantage after John Dibartolomeo's 3-pointer (33-21). Maccabi completed a 10-0 run to increase their advantage to new heights (43-24). They were up by 21 going into halftime (49-28).

CSKA managed to cut their deficit to single digits in the fourth period (71-80), but that turned out to be their best effort, as CSKA came away with a nine-point victory.

Scottie Wilbekin led Maccabi with 23 points (2/4 2PT, 5/8 3PT, 4/4), 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, and 25 PIR.

"I think, aside from the last 5 minutes there, we played great defense," Wilbekin said post-game. "Aside from the last 5 minutes and the first 4-5 minutes of the game, we played great defense, individually and team defense, And we hit enough shots to make that work for us.”

Iffe Lundberg led CSKA with 17 points (5/6 2PT, 2/3 3PT, 1/1 FT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, and 23 PIR.

"Besides the second quarter that we didn't show up defensively, we were better in the second half," coach Itoudis admitted. "We played a tie in the third quarter. And we won the fourth overall. Overall it was plus 12 for us in the second half. It was late, but at least we showed character and we played the game. We didn't give up."

Maccabi: Scottie Wilbekin 23, Ante Zizic 14 (5 REB), Keenan Evans 11, John Dibartolomeo 10, Jalen Reynolds 9 (6 REB).

CSKA: Iffe Lundberg 17, Marius Grigonis 10, Nikola Milutinov 10 (6 REB), Daniel Hackett 9 (7 AST), Joel Bolomboy 6.

Highlights:

Thank you for reading us! Help us even more.