Maccabi TA head back to Athens to take on Blatt’s Olympiacos
Maccabi Tel Aviv will make their second visit this month to Athens where they’ll play David Blatt’s Olympiacos Thursday evening on Game day four of Euroleague action. The yellow-and-blue won their first continental game last week in Montenegro where they defeated Buducnost to move their record to 1-2. Neven Spahija’s squad used a 20-6, fourth quarter run to pick up the 78-68 victory as Scottie Wilbekin led the way with 28 points going six for 11 from beyond the arc.
The Piraeus based outfit sits at 2-1 falling last week at home to Milano 99-75 after defeating both Khimki Moscow and Baskonia on the road. Blatt’s team features not only star guard Vassilis Spanoulis but also Nikola Milutinov and Georgios Printezis who can score in bundles. Add to that newcomers Zach LeDay who played for Hapoel Gilboa/ Galil last season along with Nigel Williams-Goss and Olympiacos is a serious force to deal with.
In Israel Winner Basketball Super League action this week, Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Ness Ziona on the road 90-74 thanks to tremendous performances by J’Covan Brown with 18 points, Bar Timor (15 points), Tamir Blatt (13 points and 8 assists) and James Feldeine who chipped in with 14 points. Golan Gutt’s 18 points and Chris Dowe’s 13 points paced the host’s in the loss.
Jerusalem opened up the game strong, scoring at will to take a 22-12 lead after the first quarter thanks to strong rebounding with 18 boards and poor shooting by Ness Ziona going a miserable three for 15 from the field. Feldeine was whistled for three of the Reds eight fouls over the first ten minutes sending him to the bench with six points for the majority of the half. However, Bar Timor and J’Covan Brown picked up the slack as the guards drained 25 points between them extending the visitor’s lead to 49-32 by the break.
Ness Ziona rode Golan Gutt’s sharp shooting in the third quarter as the Israel international drilled four three-pointers in the frame to pull Nadav Zilberstein’s squad to within 10 points, 68-58 as the contest headed into the final 10 minutes. But that’s when Gutt’s Israel National team teammate, Tamir Blatt, got rolling for Oded Katash’s side and drilled three shots from beyond the arc to lead Jerusalem to a 90-74 victory.
Hapoel Holon slipped by Hapoel Eilat in double overtime 108-102 thanks to 11 points by Khalif Wyatt in the second overtime to help the purple side to the victory as the back and forth game featured no less than 18 lead changes and 14 ties over the course of the 50-minute contest. Dequan Jones led the way for Dan Shamir’s Holon with 29 points, while Wyatt added 21 points and TJ Cline recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Lenzelle Smith Jr. scored 26 points as Elijah Bryant and Jonathan Skjoldebrand each dropped 17 points in the defeat.
AS REGULATION time ticked down, Holon nursed a three-point, 82-79 lead until Smith Jr. was fouled behind the three-point line with 13 seconds left and hit his three free throws to send the game to overtime. With seven seconds remaining on the first overtime and Eilat ahead 93-90, Corey Walden got Guy Pnini the ball who lofted up a Hail Mary three pointer as the buzzer sounded that found the bottom of the bucket to send the game to a second extra period. Once the battle headed into the second overtime, Wyatt took over and sent the Holon fans home happy.
Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated upstart Hapoel Beersheba 66-64 in a defensive minded matchup at Yad Eliyahu. Rami Hadar’s southern side went into halftime up 39-32 thanks to long distance sharpshooting going eight for 20 from deep but went cold over the last 20 minutes hitting only one of eight opportunities. Hadar was ejected in the third quarter after arguing with the referees while Beersheba’s Taylor Braun, Travis Warech and Jakim Donaldson almost sent the contest to overtime, but Donaldson’s ball fell off the rim as time expired which allowed Maccabi to escape with a two-point win. Yellow-and-Blue captain John Dibartolomeo paced the hosts with 22 points and seven rebounds while Yovel Zoosman added 11 points in the win. Semaj Christon led the visitor’s with 18 points as Warech chipped in with 14 points including four three-pointers in the defeat.
Hapoel Gilboa/Galil traveled to Hapoel Tel Aviv and returned north with an 86-76 victory where sloppy play was on the menu as both teams combined for 49 turnovers. With the score 66-65 in favor of the visitor’s, Netanel Artzi drained a three-pointer then stole the ball and slammed it home to increase Ariel Beit Halachmi’s side’s lead to 71-65 and that was all she wrote. Bryant Crawford scored 25 points while Greg Whittington dropped 17 points and added 11 boards for Gilboa/Galil and Alade Aminu recorded 17 points in the loss.
Maccabi Ashdod picked up their first win of the season squeaking by Bnei Herzliya 75-70 coming back from an 11-point halftime deficit to score the victory. Landon Milbourne scored 18 points while Paul Stoll added 12 points, seven boards and six assists for Ashdod as Or Leumi led Herzliya with 15 points.
Maccabi Rishon Lezion also recorded their debut win of the campaign handily defeating Ironi Nahariya 75-58 thanks to a 43-23 second half. Cameron Long’s 14 points and Oz Blayzer’s 13 led Rishon while Myle Henry led all scorers with 18 points in the defeat.