Hapoel Tel Aviv eased past Hapoel Gilboa Galil 73-56 as Dimitrios Itoudis recorded his first win as the Reds new head coach up at Gan Ner.

The hosts caused all kinds of issues early with solid play from Ben Moore and Darius Perry, but Patrick Beverley and Bruno Caboclo were able to help the visitors take a double digit 32-21 lead into halftime. From there Hapoel Tel Aviv went into cruise control as Marcus Bingham, Oz Blayzer and Tomer Ginat feasted on Sharon Avrahami’s squad which featured three new players who had yet to acclimate to his style of play as Tel Aviv scored at will over the final quarter hour to wrap up the victory.

Caboclo scored 13 points, Bingham added 10 points while Timor and Beverley each had 9 points in the win. Perry scored 15 points and Moore chipped in with 13 points in the loss.

“I want to thank the players and the fans as this was my first win as well as one for the team,” Hapolel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis began. “We got very serious into the game and we established something in our aggressiveness and the type of defense we had to play against certain players. It would have been better if they would have had their best scorer playing in Ish El Amin because he has a great season so far. A player like Guy Palatin played a hell of a defense and it shows why it’s important to have a big roster and that we were also able to share the minutes as we have a big game coming up this week.”

“The first half we defended well but we missed so many shots and our percentages were very low,” Hapoel Gilboa Galil Head Coach Sharon Avrahami began. “We were missing our best scorer in Ish El-Amin as well. We cut the lead down to 7 points in the third quarter but that was as close as we could get.”

Marcus Foster spoke about the victory, “We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game and we need that with everything going on, new coach and new system and we aren’t playing to our level. We were able to break away in the third quarter because we stayed the same and played offense but relied more on defensive rebounds, pushed the pace and we had some easy shots. From there Bruno Caboclo and Marcus Bingham were very important for us inside, Patrick Beverley was really good and Yam Madar was terrific in his first game.”

Ben Moore reflected on the game, “We were pretty good defensively in the first half and we stuck to them pretty good and they got a couple of shot clock violations. We have to treat every game like a championship game and this was good to get our feet under us and we need to get a few wins coming up. It’s an adjustment to have a number of new players on the roster but all three will help us win games and we will be better against Kiryat Ata.”

Darius Perry went from deep and Ben Moore scored in the paint for Hapoel Gilboa Galil while Noam Yaacov and Patrick Beverley each went in for layup for Hapoel Tel Aviv to begin the game as Moore and Bruno Caboclo traded baskets to keep the game close 7-6 for the hosts midway through the first quarter. Caboclo out in a 3-point play, Elijah Childs went from deep, Beverley went in for a deuce, Ish Wainright drilled home a corner 3-ball to bump up the reds lead to 18-13 after ten minutes of play.

Yam Madar led off the second with points from downtown and then fed Caboclo for an alley-oop, Oz Blayzer knocked down a corner triple, Perry went from deep to stop an 11-0 run for Dimitrios Itoudis’s team, Bar Timor put in a 3-point play, Moore scored a pair of buckets but Bingham hit a 3-pointer to keep the Hapoel Tel Aviv advantage in double digits, 32-21 at halftime.

Gur Lavie scored to open up the third quarter, Beverley drained a triple, Lotan Amsalem added points, Tomer Ginat and Caboclo scored inside and Marcus Foster went from the outside to keep Hapoel in front 42-29 midway through the period. Beverley handed the ball off to Caboclo for a bucket in the paint, Ginat added a basket, so did Bingham, Madar and Timor to give the visitors a commanding 56-37 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Blayzer put in points to begin the fourth frame, Moore and Bingham traded baskets, Blayzer went from deep as did Perry at the other end, but more points from Bingham and Timor to go along with a triple by Guy Palatin put every Reds player on the scoresheet as they wrapped up the blowout win.

Hapoel Jerusalem crushed Hapoel Beer Sheva 104-68 as six capital city reds players scored in double digits to easily dispose of the hosts. Jared Harper scored 14 points, Or Cornelius added 13 points as Derek Ogbeide and Khadeen Carrington each scored 12 points a piece in the win while Ron Zipper paced Beer Sheva with 16 points in the loss.