Yellow-and-blue beaten by Real Madrid

Maccabi Tel Aviv is still searching for its first Euroleague win of the season, falling to 0-2 on Thursday night with an 89-82 defeat to Real Madrid at Yad Eliyahu Arena.Maccabi was hoping to kick-start its campaign following a tight loss at Olimpia Milano in the continental opener last week.The yellow-and-blue trailed by 13 points after being outplayed in the first half, but opened the third quarter with a 16-0 run to take the lead.The hosts couldn’t build on the momentum, however, with Real reestablishing a double-digit margin (79-69) in the fourth period from which Maccabi could not return.The game against Madrid was the first of a six-game stretch over 13 days for Maccabi. Tel Aviv hosts Hapoel Holon in local league action on Saturday night, and despite the Euroleague’s new 30 regular season-game format, will be desperate to get off the mark when it hosts Galatasaray next Wednesday.Maccabi will then fly to Lithuania to face Zalgiris Kaunas in continental action next Friday before playing Hapoel Tel Aviv in the derby on October 31. The yellow-and-blue caps the hectic run of games with a home contest against Barcelona on November 2.Victor Rudd led Maccabi with 18 points and seven rebounds on Thursday, with Andrew Goudelock scoring 16 and Sonny Weems netting 15.Jaycee Carroll finished with 18 points for Madrid, which improved to 2-0.Madrid controlled the first half and took a 13-point gap (46-33) into the interval.But after struggling to match Real’s intensity in the first two quarters, Maccabi hit the ground running at the start of the second half, going on a 16-0 over the first 4:30 minutes of the third frame to move in front (49-46).The yellow-and-blue’s lead would be short lived though, with Real scoring the next six points and never trailing again.The game was still wide open entering the final 10 minutes, with Madrid holding a five-point advantage (62-57).Tel Aviv closed within two points (67-65), only for the visitors to score 12 of the next 16 points to rebuild a double-digit margin (79-69) which Maccabi could not erase.