Yellow-and-blue struggle on defense without Will Bynum, but pull through as Roma runs out of gas.
By SHARON SOLOMONMac ta roma 298.88(photo credit: AP)
Maccabi Tel Aviv concluded its Euroleague Top 16 campaign with a comfortable 79-72 victory over Lottomatica Roma at Nokia Arena on Thursday night.
Maccabi (4-2), which finished in second place in Group D, faces CSKA Moscow in a best-of-three quarterfinal series that begins on April 4.
With Will Bynum unavailable, the yellow-and-blue not surprisingly struggled on defense. Roma raced to a 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, but a couple of three-pointers by Derrick Sharp gave Maccabi a narrow 36-35 lead at halftime.
Roma ran out of gas in the second half as coach Jasmin Repesa opted to rest his stars, David Hawkins and Mire Chatman.
Maccabi reserve Jamie Arnold set the pace with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Nikola Vujcic was dominant in the paint and finished with 13 points and four boards.
Sharp buried three three-pointers en route to 11 crucial points, and Tal Burstein had a solid all-round performance, contributing seven points, four rebounds and three assists.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
