Four days before their firs Top 16 game in the Euroleague in Valencia, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv had to work extremely hard to beat Maccabi Givat Shmuek/Petah Tikva 88-85.
With 53 seconds left, McCollum put the visitors 85-82 up. 13 seconds later Shelef made it 85-84. Parker put Maccabi in the lead 86-85 with 16 seconds to go. Then, in the final play, Sharp stole the ball from Brenner and Parker was fouled on the buzzer and made the final pts from the line.
Givat Shmuel’s defense held Maccabi to only 13 pts in the first quarter to their 21. A huge game by Maceo Bsaton and Deon Thomas was the major factor that Maccabi arrived to half time with a 42-40 lead. Baston scored by then 17 pts, pulled down 7 rbds and blocked 3 shots. Thomas had 12 pts & 6 rbds.
In the third period Maccabi tookk a 59-52 lead but a 9-2 run by GS ended the peiod even (61-61). Then Saras took over, scored 12 of his 17 pts and dished some great assists. Maccabi led 72-71. Givat Shmuel made it 77-72 before the dramatic end. Baston was the MVP with 23 pts, 11 rbds and 4 bsts.

Deon Thomas had 18 pts & 6 rbds and Jasikevicius 17 pts & 11 assts. Other scorers: Parker 11, Vujcic 7, Sheh; 6, Sharp 6. Burstein did not score.
Top scorers for Givat Shamuel: Webb18 & 11 rbds, McCollum 15, Carr & Dror Cohen 12 each.