Milan Attora coach Messina plenty of compliments for the yellows who won him yesterday 63:69 • Spropoulos: "Defending Big Games" • Wilbkin: "We did a great job"

• Wilkin. The game man

  Photo:

  Alan Shaver

"The defense is the one who won this game for us," Maccabi Tel Aviv said after the 63:69 in the nerves on Milan last night (Thursday) at the Mafra Menorah.

Only 48 hours earlier, the Barcelona yellows had won thanks to an incredible offensive game and an impressive shot from outside the arc. Yesterday Atura Messina presented them with a completely different kind of challenge. The Italians came up with a clear game plan - slowing down the pace, disrupting the host's offensive game and controlling the game with every fuzz.

"All games against Messina and his teams are tight because he focuses on how to stop the opponent," he breathed wide-eyed at the end of Janis Sparopoulos, "Defending big games. We played very good defense and prevented them from scoring light baskets. That was the key."

Messina briefs Skola. Maccabi's domesticity deterred Milan // Photo: Alan Shiber

The Italian coach complimented the Yellows: "Maccabi is a senior candidate to reach the Final Four. She has the talent, physicality and aggression that won us over. If Maccabi has the home run in the quarterfinals, it will be very difficult to pass it."

Despite the compliments to the defense, the ball eventually has to be put in the basket, and the one who does it better than anyone is Scottie Wilbkin, who was the only one of the two teams to cross the 20-point bar, and in fact scored nearly a third of Maccabi Tel Aviv's points.

"We were a bit lethargic in the first half. It was weird," the yellow star said. "In the second half the fans have already pushed us and done a great job."