Crvena Zvezda's Lorenzo Brown (L) drives the ball against Maccabi's Yovel Zoosman during a regular season round 28 Euroleague basketball match between Crvena Zvezda and Maccabi in Belgrade, Serbia on March 6, 2020. (Photo by Predrag Milosavljevic/Xinhua)
BELGRADE, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Serbian Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) breezed past Israel's Maccabi in the Round 28 of the basketball Euroleague on Friday, and maintained chances to advance.
The match at the Belgrade Arena in front of 7,500 fans started with domination of the home team over one of the competitors that had already qualified for the next stage.
Crvena Zvezda's Billy Baron scored 16 points in the first quarter, enabling his team to gain a seven-point advantage. However, Maccabi managed to keep up until halftime.
In the third quarter the home team managed to widen the gap to more than 20 points thanks to continued good performance of Baron and Kevin Punter.
With 21 points in front, Crvena Zvezda entered the final quarter with a series of points of Punter, with James Gist's shining in final minutes.
Baron and Punter scored 22 points each for Crvena Zvezda, followed by Gist and Vladimir Stimac with 12 points each.
In Maccabi, only Tyler Dorsey (19 points) and Scottie Wilbekin (11 points) marked double digits.
Maccabi, currently 5th, have already secured qualification with 19 wins and 9 defeats.
With six more rounds to play, 14th-ranked Crvena Zvezda which has a 11-17 performance this season have only theoretical chance to steal one of the three remaining tickets to knockouts with consecutive wins.
They will play a tough away game against runner-up Real Madrid in Spain, while Maccabi face Baskonia at home in Tel Aviv.
