Beşiktaş Beats Maccabi for First Win, 109⁠–⁠93

Beşiktaş beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 109⁠–⁠93 on Wednesday, 30 September, at Aleksandar Nikolić Hall in Belgrade — Maccabi’s designated home for the night — for its first win since returning to the EuroLeague, Europe’s top men’s club basketball competition (Eurohoops). Tip-off was 20:05 CEST (2:05 p.m. ET). Anthony Brown and former Maccabi guard Scottie Wilbekin scored 20 points each for Beşiktaş; Devon Dotson added 17 and Conor Morgan 13 (Eurohoops). Jimmy Clark and Bonzie Colson led Maccabi with 15 apiece (Eurohoops). Brown hit three consecutive three-pointers midway through the third quarter to put Beşiktaş up 72⁠–⁠54, and Maccabi never seriously threatened afterward (Eurohoops). Beşiktaş improved to 1⁠–⁠1 after a 96⁠–⁠94 opening loss at home to Valencia; Maccabi fell to 0⁠–⁠2 after an 84⁠–⁠74 opening loss at ASVEL (Eurohoops; L'Équipe).

The EuroLeague is Europe’s top men’s club basketball competition, a season-long league of leading clubs that ends in a Final Four weekend. A three-pointer is a field goal taken from beyond the arc and worth three points. CEST is Central European Summer Time, six hours ahead of Eastern Time in the United States in late September. Aleksandar Nikolić Hall is a Belgrade arena used as a temporary home for Maccabi Tel Aviv in this Round 2 fixture; the Israeli club was the designated home side even though the game was played in Serbia (Eurohoops).

Eurohoops framed the Belgrade result as Beşiktaş’s first victory since returning to the competition, with Brown’s mid-third-quarter burst the decisive stretch: three straight threes that stretched the lead to 72⁠–⁠54 and left Maccabi without a serious path back (Eurohoops). Wilbekin, who once starred for Maccabi, matched Brown at 20; Dotson’s 17 and Morgan’s 13 rounded out a balanced visitor attack (Eurohoops). For Maccabi, Clark and Colson’s 15 each were the top lines on a night that left the yellow-and-blue at 0⁠–⁠2 through two rounds (Eurohoops).

Beşiktaş had opened the season with a home loss to Valencia, 96⁠–⁠94, so Wednesday’s road win in Belgrade evened the Turkish club at 1⁠–⁠1 (Eurohoops). Maccabi’s opener was an 84⁠–⁠74 defeat at ASVEL in Villeurbanne; the Belgrade loss made it two straight to start the regular season (Eurohoops; L'Équipe). Round 2’s Wednesday slate closed Europe’s second gameday with this Belgrade tip at 20:05 CEST and Panathinaikos–ASVEL in Athens shortly after (Eurohoops).

A designated-home arrangement means the visiting club in the standings sense still carries home-game status for records and scheduling even when the arena is elsewhere; here Maccabi were listed as the home team at Nikolić Hall while Beşiktaş were the visitors who left with the win (Eurohoops). For plain readers: returning to the EuroLeague means Beşiktaş is back in the top club competition after time away; a first win of the campaign is the first regular-season victory of the new EuroLeague year (Eurohoops).

Brown’s three consecutive triples midway through the third were the clearest swing of the night on the Eurohoops account — a burst that turned a solid Beşiktaş lead into a 18-point gap at 72⁠–⁠54 and froze Maccabi’s comeback hopes (Eurohoops). Wilbekin’s 20 against his old club gave the Belgrade story a familiar name on the winners’ side; Dotson and Morgan kept the scoring load from collapsing onto a single guard (Eurohoops). Clark and Colson’s matching 15 were not enough once the third-quarter gap opened (Eurohoops).

Eurohoops’s Wednesday Round 2 roundup listed the final as Maccabi Tel Aviv 93, Beşiktaş 109, matching the box leaders above, and closed Round 2 with Panathinaikos’s win in Athens on the same night (Eurohoops). After Belgrade, Beşiktaş sat 1⁠–⁠1 on the Valencia loss plus this win; Maccabi sat 0⁠–⁠2 on the ASVEL loss plus this loss (Eurohoops; L'Équipe).