Maccabi Tel Aviv fell to Milano 83-72 as the Italians built up a dominant first half lead to cruise to the 11-point win. The Yellow & Blue came out flat in the first quarter as Malcolm Delaney and Nicolo Melli helped give the hosts a quick advantage while Konstantinos Mitoglou hit his shots from long distance in the second frame to give Ettore Messina’s squad a 52-30 point advantage at the half.

Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s team was able to claw back over the course of the final twenty minutes with buckets a plenty by Derrick Williams but it was too little too late on this night. The loss drops Maccabi’s record to 1-2 as they will now ready for a date with ASVEL Villeurbanne in France on Thursday night.

Williams led Maccabi with 19 points, James Nunnally added 16 points and Jalen Reynolds scored 13 points in the loss. Devon Hall led Milano with 17 points, Mitoglou scored 16 points and Delaney chipped in with 10 points in the victory.

James Nunnally opened the game with a triple to get Maccabi Tel Aviv on the board early while Mathias Lessort put down a dunk but Malcolm Delaney, Devon Hall and Kaleb Tarczewski answered for Milano to take a 9-7 lead midway through the first quarter. Delaney nailed a corner 3-pointer, Melli added a pair of baskets inside as did Jerian Grant while Maccabi scored their first field goal after five minutes of play via Derrick Williams but Sergio Rodriguez went from deep to give the hosts a 26-15 lead after ten minutes.

Jalen Reynolds scored inside thanks to a Kameron Taylor assist but Kyle Hines answered for Ettore Messina’s squad as Sergio Rodriguez added another deuce off a missed free throw, Shavon Shields and Konstantinos Mitoglou scored as well to bump the advantage up to 35-21 with 7:31 left in the second quarter. Mitoglou hit his second triple of the game, Lessort tried to keep Maccabi relevant with some points inside but Mitoglou once again went from downtown while Milano hit their free throws to take a 52-30 lead at halftime.

Nunnally scored the first points of the third quarter as Maccabi Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s squad looked to try to get back into the game, but Hall with a pair of baskets kept Milano well in front 57-35 midway through the frame. Williams and Mitoglou traded triples, Wilbekin also dialed up long distance twice but Luigi Datome answered right back however Reynolds scored another bucket for Maccabi to cut the lead to 63-49 after thirty minutes of play.

Mitoglou put in a pair of baskets to begin the fourth quarter, Reynolds and Williams scored for Maccabi but Hall and Shields scored while Keenan Evans found his first points of the night for and Williams out down a big dunk for the visitors. Evans drilled home a triple and Reynolds added points inside but it wasn’t enough as Milano took the win.