Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade won its third straight game since head coach Dusko Ivanovic assumed the reins by holding off Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 69-68 on Thursday night at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall. Trailing by 8 with 3 minutes to go, Maccabi rallied and had a shot to win it, but Lorenzo Brown missed at the buzzer. The result lifted Zvezda’s record to 4-6 and dropped Maccabi to 5-5.
Zvezda holds off Maccabi, 69-68, for third straight win
Nemanja Nedovic paced Zvezda with 12 points and Hassan Martin added 11. Brown scored a season-high 23 points and dished 7 assists for Maccabi and Roman Sorkin added a career-high 16 points in defeat.
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John Holland came off the bench to score twice in an 11-3 first-quarter run that saw Zvezda take control. A last-second three-pointer by Filip Petrusev made it 27-18 after 10 minutes. Wade Baldwin helped Maccabi chip away at the deficit in a low-scoring second quarter, which finished with Zvezda leading 36-29.
Sorkin scored twice in a 2-10 run to start the second half that Brown capped with a steal and go-ahead layup. Zvezda bounced right back through Nedovic and Luka Mitrovic to lead by as many as 6. A triple by Maccabi captain John DiBartolomeo made it 50-47 at the end of the third quarter. Maccabi came within 2 twice in the first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter, but Zvezda held strong and after 4 free throws by Martin and a fastbreak layup by Ognjen Dobric, it was 68-60 with 3 minutes left. Maccabi regrouped and Sorkin battled on the offensive glass to make it 69-68 in the final minute. The Maccabi defense did the job, but the visitors came up short on the final possession.