Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Beersheba 93-75 in Israel basketball league action this week as five yellow-and-blue players scored in double digits to ease to the win.
Roman Sorkin, Jaylen Hoard, and Jasiel Rivero set the tone early for the visitors, but Spencer Weisz, Cody Demps, and Ron Zipper kept the hosts hanging around, ultimately trailing 38-31 at halftime. Tamir Blatt and Levi Randolph started scoring at will in the third quarter to open up a double-digit lead, while Rivero also found points to offset
Justin McKoy’s late-game efforts to seal the victory.
Sorkin scored 15 points, Rivero added 14 points, and Blatt recorded 13 points along with 10 assists in the win.
McKoy scored 16 points, while Sam Iorio and Zipper each contributed 13 points in the loss.
Game plan works
“I’m happy that we won the game, but I have to give Beersheba a lot of credit,” Maccabi head coach Oded Katash said. “A lot of the credit goes to their coach, who made sure that his players gave it their all. They took 21 offensive rebounds and, in fact, grabbed more overall. I wasn’t happy about that, but there were about 15 minutes that we played well on both sides of the court.”
“In general, the game plan worked well, and we had more shots than Maccabi,” Beersheba head coach Rami Hadar said. “We did an excellent job winning the battle of the boards. However, we allowed them to score too many 2-point shots, which was an issue, and we didn’t shoot as well as we could have.”
Randolph talked about the keys to the win.
“It was a great game for us, and we took the win together despite the first half, where we could have played better.
We have to continue to build and keep the momentum. At halftime, we spoke about keeping the game simple, and we had been doing too much. We needed to keep the intensity on the defensive end.”
Meanwhile, Hapoel Jerusalem took care of Hapoel Holon 85-79 as Chris Johnson starred against his former team to pace the Reds to the win.
The Purples came out with their shooting shoes on as Elijah Mitrou-Long and Jalen Adams couldn’t miss from deep in the first half, but Khadeen Carrington, Chris Johnson, and Justin Smith helped the Reds to a 51-45 advantage at halftime.
The duo of Mitrou-Long and Adams continued to score at will, but Jared Harper, Jeremy Morgan, Gaby Chachashvili, and Johnson went on a 15-0 fourth-quarter run to take the lead for good and ensured the visitors stayed in front to secure the win.
Johnson scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Harper added 18 points, and Carrington put in 17 points in the win. Adams scored 23 points, and Mitrou-Long added 16 points in the loss.
Jerusalem head coach Yonatan Alon spoke about having a player like MVP Johnson on his roster.
“He’s only getting better. The way I see basketball, personality leads the player, not necessarily the talent. With Chris Johnson, that’s exactly what you see – his character and his impact on the players on the team. When you see someone working like that on the court, there won’t be anyone who won’t give their all. That’s what he brings to a basketball team.”
Holon’s new head coach Guy Kaplan reflected on the game and his new role.
“It really hurt us when they went on a 15-0 run in the last quarter. We tried to stop it in various ways, but the 50/50 balls were really a problem for us in this game. As for me taking the head coaching position, I’m part of the club, and I was asked to stay on. Guy Goodes, as well, said that. I have experience as a head coach, and I will use that to help the team as long as I am in this position.”
Up north, Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Kiryat Ata 94-77 in a rough-and-tumble battle that saw both coaches ejected by the end of the game.
After a tight first half that saw Chris Smith, Liam O’Reilly, and Gal Beitner pace the hosts to a surprising 44-39 lead at halftime, the Reds came back with baskets by Yam Madar and Guy Palatin.
Right before the end of the third quarter, Hapoel head coach Dimitrios Itoudis was sent to the showers with a second technical, but with his team ahead 65-60. The final frame saw Kiryat Ata bench boss Eldad Bentov ejected with his second technical foul. From there, it was all Reds, as Joe Ragland and Bruno Caboclo did as they pleased to close out the game.
Ragland and Madar each scored 17 points, and Caboclo scored 11 points in the win. Smith scored 18 points, O’Reilly put in 13 points, and Beitner added 12 points in the loss.
Also, Hapoel Afula knocked off slumping Hapoel Galil Elyon 87-65 as Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad cruised to the win.
Jalen Leque, Justyn Mutts, and JP Tokoto were all busy for Hapoel Afula in the first half, while Lukas Goldenberg and Rawle Alkins countered for Hapoel Galil Elyon as the hosts took a 47-39 lead at halftime.
J’Covan Brown, Muriel Lutati, and Tokoto continued to fill the basket as Lior Carreira tried to keep the visitors close, to no avail. Tokoto scored 18 points, Brown added 17 points, and Mutts scored 15 points in the win, while Alkins scored 15 points and Carreira put in 14 points in the loss.
Finally, Maccabi Ramat Gan dropped Ness Ziona 76-61 as Amin Stevens was unstoppable inside, while the team’s defense held the hosts to just 21 second-half points to take the win.
Stevens scored 26 points, Isaiah Miles added 14 points, and Adam Ariel scored 13 points in the win, while Jerome Meyinsse and Bryce Brown each scored 11 points in the loss.