Maccabi Tel Aviv walloped Hapoel Tel Aviv 96-75 as Jaylen Hoard set the time early on to help the yellow-and-blue score at will to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five Israeli league championship series. Game two will take place on Thursday night back at Yad Eliyahu with Hapoel Tel Aviv as the hosts as the reds will look to even up the series while Maccabi will try and take a stranglehold lead and move to within one game of the league title.

Oded Katash’s squad came out strong as Jaylen Hoard and Roman Sorkin both took the bull by the horns early on, Chris Jones and Oz Blayzer kept Hapoel close, but Jimmy Clark scored while Hoard kept pouring in the points to give Maccabi a 49-34 advantage at halftime. Jonathan Motley, Tai Odiase and Yam Madar tried to chip away at the lead for Dimitrios Itoudis’s charges, but John Dibartolomeo, Oshae Brissett, Hoard, Clark and Iffe Lundberg wouldn’t have any of it as Maccabi went up by twenty points and kept filling the basket to take a 1-0 series lead.

Hoard scored 20 points, Brissett added 16 points while Dibartolomeo and Clark each put in 15 points in the win as Motley scored 12 points in the loss.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash reflected on the victory, “I’m really happy as to how we played, we were focused and we were there from the first minute. The crowd was there for us and we came in with a very short rotation but they all were so committed and were able to answer their runs. Now we have to be ready to go in just another couple of days. Of course, we want to end the season with a double and we worked hard for home court advantage all season long and we enjoyed playing in this game with a lot of credit to our fans.”

Hapoel bench boss Dimitrios Itoudis looked back at the loss, “It was not us in the game and we have to change the mindset drastically and immediately. Maccabi scored more in second chance points and in transition which says how much they outhustled us. However, this will make us more eager for the next game. Maccabi forced turnovers and there was just no positivity from this game. We need to see who we are and where we are, nothing worked.”

The yellow-and-blue captain John Dibartolomeo spoke about the win, “I liked how we started the game and the series, we dropped the later there against them but we came out and started on the right form but it’s only one game and we have to make adjustments and be better for game two. A lot of credit goes to the coaches for the game plan and while we are missing some guys due to injuries everyone is stepping up. It feels great to win in front of our crowd and it’s a derby but it’s only one game.”

Hapoel captain Bar Timor commented on the defeat, “We all saw what happened here today and it was a good lesson for the next game. We have to react and battle back now and ready ourselves for game two. I can’t really explain what occurred this time around but it’s a long series and we have time to make some corrections. We didn’t fight and we didn’t battle. We can’t look like this again.”

Tomer Ginat went from deep while Iffe Lundberg and Roman Sorkin both scored to get game one underway, Jaylen Hoard and Tai Odiase traded baskets, John Dibartolomeo put in a reverse and Hoard kept piling in the points to give Maccabi a 14-9 lead midway through the first quarter. Oz Blayzer went from deep, Hoard hit a sweet turnaround, Sorkin knocked down a corner 3-ball, Ish Wainright powered in a deuce while Oshae Brissett did the same at the other end, Zach Hankins dunked after the yellow-and-blue grabbed four offensive boards to take a 25-16 lead after ten minutes of play.

Dibartolomeo began the second quarter with a layup, Jonathan Motley put in a deuce while Chris Jones dropped a pair of triples, Jimmy Clark went from deep, Hoard stripped Yam Madar and went in for a bucket while Clark dunked, Hoard scored another pair of baskets for a quick 11-3 run and give Maccabi a 39-28 lead with 5:31 remaining in the half. Madar put in a floater, Clark and Lundberg came back with a bucket a piece, Motley and Hoard traded baskets, Brissett found points to keep Oded Katash’s team in front 49-34 at halftime.

Motley and Vasilije Micic went from deep to begin the third quarter, Dibartolomeo came back with a pair from beyond the arc, Tai Odiase and Madar scored, Brissett did the same at the other end, while Lundberg Clark dialled up long distance to give Maccabi a 72-52 lead after thirty minutes of action. Lundberg opened the final frame with a deuce, Bar Timor hit a 3-pointer but it was too little too late as Dibartolomeo put in a 3-point play, Brissett put in points and Sorkin went from downtown to close out the the victory.