Hapoel Holon cruised to a 103-80 victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva as Netanel Artzi scored his career high in points to lead the purples to the win. Amit Sherf’s squad jumped all over the visitors from the get go as Artzi did as he pleased while Nick Johnson also scored at will early on to race out to a double digit lead and never look back to take the victory.

Before tipoff, Holon held a special candle lighting ceremony for Chanukah with Alon Shauli an IDF soldier who was injured in northern Gaza at the start of the war.

Artzi led the way with 25 points, Johnson added 19 points and Hans Vanwign chipped in with 13 points for Holon. Egor Koulechov scored 20 points, Grant Sherfield added 15 points and Ja’Keenan Gant scored 12 points in the loss.

“We began the game being aggressive and Netanel Artzi was the main reason for that,” Holon coach Amit Sherf explained. “But in this league everyone comes back and there are momentum swings which we saw after a few mistakes at the end of the third quarter. We need to improve on that but our offense was solid. We took advantage of the mismatches but now we are looking towards the BCL game on Wednesday which is in essence a cup game.”

“We are missing some internal quiet,” Beer Sheva coach Yoav Shamir said. “We are practicing very well but when things don’t go the way that we are expecting we get into trouble. Teams like Hapoel Holon and Hapoel Tel Aviv play at a totally different pace. We were able to get back into the game a bit in the third but Holon was able to come right back. We have Kiryat Ata on Monday and we don’t have much time to really think too much about this game as we have to keep going.”

The game MVP Netanel Artzi spoke about the victory, “We have to keep going now and get ready for Wednesday. This was real team win and we have to know how to bring the energy and battle. This game I may have scored 25 points but I’d rather win the game and not even score, for me scoring is a bonus. I know what I can bring to the game.”

Hapoel Holon did as they pleased to open the game as Netanel Artzi scored in bunches while Hans Vanwign found points on the inside and outside to take a commanding 32-14 lead after ten minutes of play. Grant Sherfield, Egor Koulechov and Ja’Keenan Gant scored for Hapoel Beer Sheva as they started to cut into the purples lead but Nick Johnson took matters into his own hands and scored from every which angle to keep Amit Sherf’s squad in front 54-35 at halftime.

The duo of Artzi and Johnson continued to find the bottom of the basket, Joaquin Szuchman and Gant responded while Gilad Levi in the paint and Ron Zipper from the outside caught Holon napping to pull to within 75-63 after thirty minutes of action. Artzi continued to score, Yotam Hanochi found points as well while Justin Smith and Shawn Dawson put on an air show to salt away the win.

Kiryat Ata slipped by Hapoel Afula 76-73 in a nail biter of a matchup in the Jezreel Valley. The visitors grabbed an early 47-32 lead halftime but the hosts came storming back to cut the advantage down to just 3-points, 59-56 after thirty minutes of play. However, Sharon Avrahami’s squad led by Raz Adam and Amin Stevens held off Marcellus Earlington and Cam Shelton to notch the win.

James Batemon led the way with 20 points, Stevens added 17 points as Adam pitched in with 12 points in the victory. Earlington scored 17 points and Shelton chipped in with 16 points in the loss.