Basketball / Maccabi survives early scare in Slovenia to stay group leader

Maccabi Tel Aviv survived a scare in Slovenia last night in its sixth Euroleague contest of the season, beating Union Olimpija Ljubljana, 82-65, to remain at the top of Group C with five wins and a single loss.

The last time the two teams met - the season's first game back in October - Maccabi trounced the visitors 85-65 in front of a raucous home crowd at Yad Eliahu.

Ljubljana had momentum on its side coming into last night's, having prevailed at home over Roma 87-70 last week for its first win of the Euroleague season.

Tel Aviv coach Pini Gershon started with an all-foreigner starting five - Americans Andrew Wisniewski, Alan Anderson and Chuck Eidson rounded out by Gabonese power forward Stephane Lasme and Polish center Maciej Lampe. In his first season with the perennial Israeli champion, Anderson again emerged as a natural leader - just as he has in many important games.

His side was playing without Gal Mekel - who was upset at not getting enough minutes on court and moved up north to Gilboa/Galil - but they did have the benefit of welcoming back reserve point man Doron Perkins from the injury list.

The first quarter was a tightly-fought affair, as Ljubljana surprised the visitors with solid play on both sides of the court, ending the first quarter locked with Maccabi at 20.

Tel Aviv leapt ahead in the second, led by Perkins and Guy Pnini coming off the bench. Maccabi's task was made all the more easy when Ljubljana coach Jure Zdovc contested a referee's call granting Anderson a foul shot after a basket. Zdovc lost his composure and began cursing the refs, who smacked him with a technical foul and ejected him from the court.

After the half, the Slovenians fought back, narrowing the lead to just three going into the final quarter; they even took a brief lead early in the fourth.

But Maccabi had no plans of letting up. In the game's final minutes, the home team went on an offensive tear, nearly matching the 20-point victory over Ljubljana the first time around.

Anderson led Maccabi with 15 points and 6 rebounds, while Eidson had 13 points and 6 assists.

After the game, Gershon said he was optimistic about Maccabi's next match-up, Thursday against Spain's Caja Laboral: "We'll beat them and look ahead to the Top 16."