JERUSALEM, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Greek side Olympiacos Piraeus beat Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv 89-87 in Jerusalem after overtime in the 19th round of basketball's Euroleague on Tuesday evening.
The Greek visitors achieved their 10th victory in 18 games so far this campaign, while Maccabi remain with eight wins from 19 games.
The game, played behind closed doors at the Menorah Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, was not canceled despite an ongoing nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in Israel.
The home team dominated the first quarter, thanks to aggressive team defense and points by Scottie Wilbekin on the way to an 18-13 lead after 10 minutes.
Points and rebounds by Elijah Bryant gave Maccabi a 25-16 lead at the beginning of the second quarter, but Kostas Sloukas prevented an increase in the gap, with the first half ending 40-33 for the Israeli team.
A 7-0 run by the visitors at the start of the third quarter, thanks to assists by Sloukas, evened the score to 40-40. Olympiacos took the lead for the first time in the 27th minute, with the scores at 49-48 thanks to a 3-pointer by Sloukas.
Maccabi took back the lead 55-52 at the end of the quarter, and the close game continued into the fourth quarter as well.
With 15 seconds to go, Wilbekin scored only one from the line, making it 73-71 for Maccabi, and two free throws by Sloukas, 2.9 seconds from the buzzer, sent the game to overtime (73-73).
With 10.9 seconds to go in overtime, Giannoulis Larentzakis scored twice from the line, making it 88-85 for Olympiakos. Then Wilbelin scored two out of three from the line with 7.2 seconds to go.
Larentzakis scored only one from the line, making it 89-87 with three seconds to the buzzer, but Bryant missed a winning 3-pointer, allowing the visiting team to celebrate an important win.
Sloukas scored a team-high 21 points, adding 11 assists. Larentzakis scored 13 points for Olympiacos.
Wilbekin led the Maccabi scorers with a game-high 25 points, with Bryant adding 15 more.
Maccabi's next game is at home to Spain's Saski Baskonia on Thursday, while Olympiacos will host French side Asvel Villeurbanne the following evening. Enditem
