FC Barcelona handed Maccabi its first home loss of the season when it escaped from Menora Mivtachim Arena with a 79-86 win on Thursday night. The visitors led by 1 entering the last period but went on a 1-11 run in the next 5 minutes that destroyed Maccabi’s hopes. Barcelona improved to 5-2 with its third straight victory and Maccabi dropped to 4-3 after its second loss in a row.
Barcelona comes on late to beat Maccabi, 79-86

Nicolas Laprovittola led all scorers with 19 points and 6 three-pointers, Cory Higgins had 15 points, Mike Tobey chipped in 14 and Alex Abrines collected 13 for the visitors. Lorenzo Brown paced Maccabi with 18 points and 5 assists, Wade Baldwin tallied 16 points in just 21 minutes before being ejected with 2 technical fouls, and Alex Poythress contributed 10 points and 6 rebounds in the losing effort.
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Five threes in a row from three different players gave Barcelona a 20-23 edge after 10 minutes. Maccabi held on and managed to stop Barcelona’s offense early in the second quarter to take its first lead of the night at 27-26. The game went back and forth and when Maccabi had to sit Baldwin because of his first technical, Lorenzo Brown took the reins and scored 8 points in a row to build a 40-36 advantage for the home team that turned into a 43-40 margin at halftime.
The hosts looked ready to soar after the break as Josh Nebo and Jaylen Adams pushed their team to a 50-44 lead, but Barcelona reacted in style and went on a 0-10 run behind back-to-back triples by Laprovittola that cooled the local fans down and helped the visitors enter the last period leading 61-62. Higgins opened fire with a three-point dagger, as a warning for what was going to come. Despite the foul trouble of Sertac Sanli, Jan Vesely and Mike Tobey, Barcelona escaped to 62-73 behind a 1-11 run in 4 minutes. Nebo tried to rescue Maccabi, but when Baldwin had to leave the court because of his second technical foul, the home team seemed to lose all its energy. Meanwhile, Higgins kept pushing to maintain Barcelona’s advantage in double-digits, helping his team to a happy ending.