Maccabi earns TA derby conquest • Jerusalem falls

Maccabi Tel Aviv dominated Hapoel Tel Aviv 95-78 this week to take the high-octane derby at Yad Eliyahu, avenging its loss to the Reds a few weeks ago.

Hapoel looked like the better team over the course of the first quarter by staying a step or two in front of Maccabi, but quick points near the end of the opening frame by big man Jasiel Rivero and captain John DiBartolomeo cut the lead down to a manageable four points.

From there Oded Katash’s squad took off, scoring at ease with key points by Jake Cohen, Bonzie Colson and Wade Baldwin to build up a double-digit lead and take home the victory.

The yellow-and-blue continued its busy week, making up games that were postponed due to the war, when they hosted

Maccabi Ramat Gan late Tuesday, before visiting Jerusalem for the on Friday afternoon and then welcoming Hapoel Galil Elyon on Sunday.

Hapoel Tel Aviv will entertain Hapoel Afula on Wednesday and visit Hapoel Holon on Saturday.

“This was a good game for us as we held them to under 20 points in three of the quarters,” Katash said following the game. “They had a good first quarter and then we cut them down after that. But outside of basketball, this was the first time we played in front of a full arena with the amazing energy in a while.”

Up north, Hapoel Haifa defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 85-78 as five Carmel Reds players scored in double-digits to notch the win.

Guy Goodes’s squad controlled the pace of play from the get-go and built up an early lead that it held on to to pick up fifth its victory of the season, while Ilias Kantzouris’s Jerusalem lost its second straight Israeli league contest.