Hapoel Beer Sheva overwhelmed Maccabi Ramat Gan 101-65 as CJ Elleby led all scorers in the win to kick off Winner Cup preseason play. The game started off neck-and-neck for the opening 25 minutes but the visiting southern reds began to pull away and take a 46-36 lead at halftime and then a 16-1 run to begin the third quarter to run away with the victory. In addition to Elleby’s 25 points, Cody Demps, Michael Foster Jr. and Jalen Tate all scored 16 points for Rami Hadar’s squad while Samage Teel and Joirdon Nicholas each put in 15 points for Shmulik Brenner’s team in the loss.

The MVP CJ Elleby spoke to The Sports Rabbi following the game, “I feel good. We’ve just been working really hard, that’s the biggest thing and I think this game we had a really good rhythm both sides.”

The forward also talked about how he views his head coach Rami Hadar, “He’s just a players coach. He pushes us and he’s straightforward. I think that creates the atmosphere that we bring our best every day, so no matter who you are you’re going to have to come and work. I think that’s the biggest thing, the foundation and we’re just going to continue building on that.”

Elleby, who played close to 100 games in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers after having played his college ball at Washington State, had signed with Bnei Herzliya for the end of the 2023 season but didn’t get a chance to really show what he can bring to the table.

“It’s really exciting [to be back] and I like Israel a lot. I’m just grateful for this opportunity and I’m looking forward to this season with the guys. I really enjoy my teammates and the coaching staff, so it‘s going to be a lot of fun.”

Big man Michael Foster Jr. who played a game for the Philadelphia 76ers and has featured in the G-League, looked to be a perfect partner on the court for Elleby as there was plenty of chemistry between the two.

“He’s got guard skills and he’s kind of been surprising us at practice, just because we might not know his game, but of course he’s just continuing to do what he does. He’s very talented. He’s going to be tremendous this season. He can do everything out there.”

In other action, Hapoel HaEmek defeated Maccabi Raanana 89-73 up at Gan Ner. Visiting Raanana took a slim 17-14 lead after the opening quarter but for the thirty minutes that followed it was all HaEmek as they rolled to the 16-point victory. Elijah Childs scored 25 points, Kyler Edwards added 17 points and Niv Misgav recorded a 13 point and 11 assist double-double in the win while Tyrece Radford scored 22 points and Lenard Freeman put in 17 points in the loss.