


Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade ended a four-game losing run with a thrilling 86-89 road win over Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Thursday. Zvezda improved to 11-12 and to within one win of Maccabi (12-11) and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Nemanja Nedovic blasted Zvezda into a double-digit lead with 18 first-half points. The gap grew to 16 in the third quarter, but Maccabi fought back to a 1-point margin in the final minute before Zvezda held on. Nedovic finished with 28 points, with Luka Mitrovic (14 points) Ognjen Dobric (13), Filip Petrusev (12) and Luca Vildoza (10) all scoring in double figures. An outstanding Wade Baldwin led Maccabi’s resistance with a career-high and club-record 38 points.
Dobric scored the first 5 points, but a 9-1 run saw Maccabi go ahead. Nedovic scored 8 fast points to make it 18-18 after 10 minutes and then added two more triples in a 0-12 run for a 23-33 lead. Petrusev and Dobric both scored twice to make it 34-44 at the break.
Two baskets from Baldwin early in the second half narrowed the gap, 41-48, but Petrusev and Mitrovic both scored twice for a 41-57 margin and two scores from Ognjen Kuzmic made it 55-69 at the end of the third.
Three-pointers from Baldwin and Darrun Hilliard reduced the gap to 67-73, before two baskets for Mitrovic seemed to seal the deal. But Baldwin and Roman Sorkin pulled Maccabi back to 82-83, only for Dobric’s tough basket with 12 seconds to all but settle the outcome.