By Amy Samin
In week 7 of the Euroleague regular season, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv lost to CSKA Moscow 84-61 at Nokia Arena. Devin Smith led Maccabi's scorers with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Sylven Landesberg contributed 12 points and MarQuez Haynes added 11.
Starters for Maccabi were Devin Smith, MarQuez Haynes, Jake Cohen, Yogev Ohayon, and Sofo Schortsanitis. The visitors opened the game with a 15-4 run, leading Goodes to call for a time out after four minutes with only Haynes making a contribution for Maccabi. A block and huge three by Smith stopped CSKA's momentum and put Maccabi at only -7. Sonny Weems put the Russians' lead back into double digits at the buzzer, 25-12.
Smith continued to play well in the early minutes of the second quarter, adding a triple (assist Sofo) and a double, while Sofo played great defense and Sylven Landesberg and Jeremy Pargo also scored, closing the gap to 29-26 by the middle of the period. The visitors hurried to reopen their lead, and the teams went into the break with the Russians up 40-30.
Maccabi struggled on offense as the second half got underway, while CSKA grew their lead to 51-37 and Sofo committed his fourth foul and went to the bench. Pargo and Tyus combined to cut Maccabi's deficit to single digits, but the visitors were more focused and the period ended with the score 59-46.
With the exception of a three pointer by Smith, Maccabi had trouble finding the basket in the fourth quarter, while the visitors increased their lead to 74-51halfway through the period. In the end, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv fell to CSKA Moscow 84-61.