Hapoel Jerusalem took down an undermanned Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion 79-59 as the Reds dominated almost every aspect of the matchup. Even though Javon McCrea scored a game high 23 points, only 3 came in the second half as Simone Pianigiani’s strategy worked to perfection.

Lior Eliyahu’s 16 points (8/10) and 8 rebounds, Jerome Dyson’s 20 points along with Bar Timor’s 8 assists were more than Arik Shivek’s 7-man rotation could handle due to Shawn Dawson and Elishay Kadir’s absences. The game was played very similar to a European contest as Pianigiani said with low percentages from the field, few free throws, lots of rebounds but few turnovers.

The third quarter saw some extracurricular play as Amare Stoudemire took exception to some rough play by Charles Thomas and non-calls by the referee by taking out Nitzan Hanochi which earned him a technical foul but tons of cheers from the fans. Rishon didn’t take much notice as they were more interested in heading home and saving their fight for another day.