Hapoel Tel Aviv crushed Nes Ziona 102-63 as the Reds made sure to get their new head coach Stefanos Dedas’s debut on the sidelines off to a good start. Visiting Hapoel Tel Aviv who were without there captain Bar Timor who suffered a broken nose in practice, got off to a great start as Kyle Alexander, John Holland and Tomer Ginat handed the Reds a 11-0 lead out of the gate as Xavier Munford and Braian Angola scored at will to chalk up the easy road win.

Ginat scored 19 points, Munford added 18 points and Angola chipped in with 17 points in the win while Rawls Alkins was the only player in double digits for Nes Ziona with 15 points in the loss.

“I couldn’t expect a better game,” Hapoel coach Stefanos Dedas began. “First of all because we won and second I saw very quickly things that I wanted to add to the team, offensively and defensively. I expected a lot from Nes Ziona even if they didn’t win, they played much better and were close to Maccabi and in their other games. Their record isn’t what they deserve.”

The bench boss who had previously coached Hapoel Holon in Israel, was all in all content with how his team reacted in his first game on the sidelines and will also be in the market looking for a player to replace guard Will Cummings who is rumored to be Antonio Blakeney, “I’m satisfied and I’m happy to be here. Before the game, I said that we have a lot of tasks at the same moment, which is winning the games, trying to bring the confidence back and seeing what pieces we have to add because we had some injuries. We won because my assistant Barak prepared very well as he knows the opponent and that is very good for the entire staff. I didn’t know the reaction of the team and if they would understand me and we have to be better out of timeouts. We need a guy to replace Will Cummings and we are in the market and we will for sure do something as Hapoel Tel Aviv have high expectations.”