Anadolu Efes Istanbul rallied from a double-digit third-quarter deficit to pull out a dramatic 90-88 win over Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Riga, Latvia. It’s the sixth straight win for Efes, which improved to 18-14 and is sure of playing postseason basketball once again this season. Maccabi, meanwhile, dropped to a 10-22 record.

Maccabi used a 0-12 run to open a 53-63 lead in the third quarter, but Elijah Bryant scored 16 points bridging the third and fourth quarters to restore Efes’s lead. The two teams kept trading blows as the game went down to the wire, all the way to Bryant becoming the difference-maker on the defensive end, knocking out the ball from the hands of Rokas Jokubaitis in the waning seconds to secure the win.

Bryant finished with 25 points, Dan Oturu had 15 points and Shane Larkin poured in 11, while Vincent Poirier scored all of his 10 points in the first quarter. Roman Sorkin paced Maccabi with 22 points, Jokubaitis had 19, and Jake Cohen and Levi Randolph scored 10 apiece in the loss.

Poirier dominated inside in the early going, scoring eight of Efes’s first 12 points. Sorkin got himself going early and Jokubaitis banked a pair of tough runners before nailing a triple to make it 16-17. But Rolands Smits answered with a corner triple, then five points from Bryant, including a three-point play, opened a 26-17 lead. Rafi Menco ended a 10-0 drought with a corner three, and Cohen’s layup made it 26-22 after 10 minutes.

Efes kept using its size and muscle, now with Oturu scoring inside, but Sorkin continued to torch Efes, tying the game at 28-28. Larkin hit his first triple, then Darius Thompson nailed one to open a 38-32 advantage, but Sorkin scored five more points – a triple and a monster dunk – to get Maccabi within a single point. Back-to-back threes from Larkin and PJ Dozier helped Efes restore a 46-39 edge. Jake Cohen made one from long range and Levi Randolph from close range, but Larkin and Osmani ensured that Efes took a 50-46 lead into halftime.

Jokubaitis opened the second half with a three-pointer, and after Smits and Tamir Blatt traded triples, Jokubaitis took it to the rim to make it 53-56. After a timeout, back-to-back fast-break layups from Randolph and Jokubaitis, followed by a triple from Sorkin, extended the margin to 53-63, forcing another Efes timeout. Bryant’s three-pointer snapped a 0-12 run, then he added a tough jumper before Oturu fought inside for a three-point play and a layup cut it to 63-65. Bryant finished the quarter in style, sinking a last-second three-pointer to send Efes into the fourth quarter with a 66-65 lead.

Bryant hit two more threes to start the fourth, but each was answered by Maccabi, first Menco, then Cohen and John DiBartolomeo nailed one, too. Maccabi went ahead 74-76, only for back-to-back threes from Ercan Osmani and Thompson to put Efes in front, 82-78. DiBartolomeo hit another triple, but Oturu had a pair of dunks, followed by a jumper from Thompson to make it 88-84. However, Sorkin and Jokubaitis made all four free throws to tie at 88-88. Beaubois split his foul shots, making it 89-88 and giving Maccabi 10 seconds to win it. The ball went into the hands of Jokubaitis, but Bryant made the game-altering defensive play as Efes celebrated another win.