Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel HaEmek 89-64 as Tamir Blatt starred for the yellow-and-blue who were without the injured Lonnie Walker and the ill Iffe Lundberg. Prior to tip-off, former Maccabi forward Jake Cohen was honored by the club after having retired after last season. After a tight opening quarter, Oded Katash’s squad began to pull away thanks to Blatt, TJ Leaf, Jaylen Hoard and Roman Sorkin while the defense held Kyler Edwards to just 7 points (2/12 from the field) to pick up the 25-point win at Yad Eliyahu.
Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman
Blatt scored 21 points and Hoard scored 12 points while Elijah Childs scored 17 points and Niv Misgav put in 12 points in the loss.
Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman
“We’re in the middle of a very intense stretch of games that started with the Euroleague game on Friday,” Maccabi head coach Oded Katash said. “We came into this game without Iffe Lundberg and Lonnie Walker, with a significant disadvantage of not having two guards and it was a game we could have been worried about. The load is heavy and it wasn’t easy with the burden on the guards because of the absences, but we managed to get it done. Jimmy Clark and Tamir Blatt did a great job of holding the team together in an excellent performance.”
Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman
Tamir Blatt himself said, “I feel great. I need to take my opportunities and stay as ready as I can. I’m happy I was able to express myself today—winning is the most important thing. It’s not fun to lose the way we lost; the hardest part is that we lost several players to injury. Each one of us needs to raise our level and do the best we can. Lonnie is an important player for us; he gives us a lot. Everyone needs to step up and give extra.”
Bnei Herzliya defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 94-86 as Shawn Dawson starred to lead his team to the win. Yehu Orland’s side jumped out to a 33-22 lead after the first quarter and never looked back to take the win. Dawson scored 29 points, Noah Carter added 18 points while Elijah Stewart and Shalev Lugashi each scored 17 points in the win while Cody Demps scored 27 points and Brandon Angel put in 22 points in the loss.
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