Maccabi Tel Aviv Falls to Olympiacos in Preseason Tune-Up

Maccabi Tel Aviv faced a significant challenge in their final preseason tournament game in Cyprus, losing to reigning European champions Olympiacos. The Israeli team, coming off a 92-87 victory against Aris Thessaloniki, struggled against the star-studded Greek squad. Maccabi's coach, Oded Katash, was without several players due to injury, including Jimmy Clark, Daniel Tice, Oushe Brist, Gur Levi, and Amit Avov, though Will Reiman returned to the lineup. Olympiacos, who reached the final after a dramatic 89-87 win over Crvena Zvezda, features new additions like Jean Montero and Keon Clark, with Montero scoring 22 points and Evan Fournier adding 16 in their semifinal victory. This match served as Maccabi's last preparation game before facing Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Super Cup this Thursday. Their EuroLeague season begins next Thursday with an away game against Villeurbanne. In the first quarter of the game, Maccabi took an early lead with points from Colson and Mader, going up 5-2. Despite a three-pointer from Fournier tying the score, Wallace and Surkin helped Maccabi regain the advantage. Following a timeout by Olympiacos coach Bartzokas, Maccabi continued to dominate, closing the first quarter with a commanding 22-10 lead.