ISR - Debutant Bynum leads Maccabi to victory

TEL AVIV (Euroleague) - Perennial challengers Maccabi Tel Aviv were pushed all the way but came through to claim victory in a tough game against reigning Liga ACB champions Unicaja Malaga on Thursday night.

Maccabi needed overtime before completing a 106-101 win to get their Euroleague Group B challenge under way with victory.

Both these teams are in rebuilding mode - Maccabi recovering from the loss of Pini Gershon to Olympiacos and Anthony Parker to the Toronto Raptors while Unicaja are now without Parker’s new Raptors team-mate Jorge Garbajosa - but Maccabi look to have found a new star.

Making his Euroleague debut, Will Bynum poured in 29 points to lead the way to victory. He got valuable support from Nikola Vujcic who added 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Maccabi raced into an early lead, and were up 34-16 during the opening period before Unicaja went on a 17-0 run to roar back into the contention,

The Malaga-based team, who have struggled in domestic play since the loss of Garbajosa, kept it close the rest of the way.

It was tied 49-49 at half-time and normal time finished with the scores on 90-90 after Carlos Cabezas tied the scores 6.1 seconds before the buzzer.

However, Maccabi then took control in overtime to secure the win.

Unicaja wasted a big night from Cabezas, who led all scorers with 32 points.

Jiri Welsch scored 15 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime but it was not enough for the Spaniards.

Thursday’s other Group B game saw Cibona claim the scalp of Union Olimpija with a 77-61 win in Zagreb.

Chris Warren scored 21 points with Brent Wright and Jurica Zuza chipping in with 13 each for the victors.

In Group A action, Dynamo Moscow recorded their first ever Euroleague win with a 75-68 victory over RheinEnergie Koln at the new Krilatskoe Arena.

Travis Hansen led Dynamo with 18 points and Lazaros Papadopoulos added 14, but it was the 17-year-old guard Dmitriy Khvostov who caught the eye.

He collected 11 points and drew eight fouls off the bench as Dynamo pulled ahead during the second quarter. He also made Koln pay for those fouls with critical free throws to keep his team ahead in the final quarter.

There was also a first competition win over Le Mans in their Euroleague debut, an impressive 82-71 victory over Climamio Bologna.

It came in spectacular fashion as Kenny Gregory and Eric Campbell offered up a dunking clinic to give the display an extra edge.

What had been an even game was broken open when Campbell reeled off three dunks in a row in the third quarter.

Gregory finished with 20 points, one more than Campbell, while Sandro Nicevic and Nebojsa Bogavac added 10 each.

David Bluthenthal and Marco Belinelli each had 17 points for Climamio.

Also in Group A, Horace Jenkins led four Efes Pilsen players in double figures as they held on to beat Prokom Trefl Sopot 71-67.

Jenkins collected 13 points while Kerem Gonlum added 12, Cenk Akyol 11 and Drew Nicholas 10 for the winners.

However, they never really shook off the challenge of the visitors.

The scores were tied at 51-51 after three quarters but a 7-0 Efes run in the final period gave them the cushion they needed.

In Group C’s only game on Thursday, Benetton Treviso were made to fight for a 95-82 win over Zalgiris Kaunas.

The Italians held a 13 point lead, 33-20, at the end of the first period, but the visitors fought back to cut the lead to seven, 55-48 at half-time.

However, they could not close the gap any further against a Benetton team that got 26 points from Spencer Nelson and 20 from Marcus Goree.

PA Sport