Maccabi Tel Aviv downed Maccabi Ramat Gan 88-71 as the yellow-and-blue will look to take this momentum into their Euroleague game at Alba Berlin on Thursday. Prior to the game a ceremony was held to name one of the stands at Zisman Arena after the late Lior Lubin as his widow and children took part.
Oded Katash’s squad came our strong with Tamir Blatt, Bonzie Colson and Jake Cohen leading the way while Itay Moskovits and Kendale McCullum tried to keep the score close and drew even in the third quarter but James Webb and Cohen came back with a 10-0 run to finish off the period and lead Maccabi to the victory.

Jake Cohen – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
Cohen scored 19 points, Colson added 14 points, Josh Nebo scored 11 points while Blatt and Lorenzo Brown chipped in with 10 points a piece in the win. McCullum scored 15 points, Moskovits added 12 points and Isaiah Miles scored 11 points in the loss.

Oded Katash – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
“All in all defensively we were fairly focused for 40 minutes,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash said. “Offensively, we still have room to get back to our basketball and enjoy it. We used our advantages and won the battle of the boards to take the victory.”

Jake Cohen – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
“Jake is always there for us,” Katash said of Cohen who earned MVP honors. “He brings a lot more than just basketball including intelligence and leadership.”

Oded Katash – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
The bench boss also commented on the memorial held for his good friend, Lior Lubin, “As for the ceremony for Lior, I think about him everyday and I miss him very much, it was a very emotional, heartbreaking. We all miss him and we try to do as much as we can in his memory to use his spirit as a way of life.”

Shmulik Brener – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
“We weren’t good enough although we came back strong in the third quarter,” Ramat Gan Head Coach Shmulik Brenner said. “But we didn’t end the way we wanted to and were down by 11 points at the end of that quarter which made it hard to get back to where we wanted to be.”

Jake Cohen – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
The game MVP Jake Cohen spoke about the victory, “It was a good sustained effort. We wore them down a bit by our defense and got some stops that led to transition baskets which stretched out the lead. They have talented players but we were able to keep them at 71 points.”

Kendale McCullum – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
Kendale McCullum also reflected on the game, “We had the momentum going for us as we closed the gap in the third quarter but then they got five offensive rebounds, made 3-pointers and that was a momentum shift for us. Maccabi is a Euroleague team and it’s hard to fight back against a team like that as they did a good job putting us away.”

Isaiah Miles – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
Isaiah Miles went from the outside and inside for Maccabi Ramat Gan while Jake Cohen did the same for Maccabi Tel Aviv to get the first quarter off and running while Tamir Blatt went from deep and Lorenzo Brown scored a layup as JP Tokoto, Kendale McCullum and Itay Moskovits responded to give the hosts a 15-13 lead after ten minutes of play.

Tamir Blatt – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
Blatt opened the second quarter with a floater and then went from beyond the arc, Bonzie Colson found the bucket from the inside and outside, Jordan Cohen came back with points, Tokoto and. Brown traded baskets, Moskovits went in for a 3-point play, Blatt hit a jumper and Cohen scored inside but McCullum hit a 3-pointer to end the half as Maccabi took a 40-33 advantage.

Benaya Srur – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
Benayahu Srur scored on the inside to begin the third quarter, Josh Nebo answered, Miles scored an easy deuce as did Brown, McCullum put in a 3-point play, Jordan Cohen knocked down a triple to pull Shmulik Brenner’s team to within 46-44 midway through the period.

Adam Ariel – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
Adam Ariel went for a pair from deep, Jake Cohen came back with a 3-point play, McCullum took the ball to the rack for a reverse layup, Tokoto hit a jumper, Wade Baldwin went in for a layup and a dunk, James Webb drained a 3-pointer as did Jake Cohen to polish off a 10-point run to finish the frame off and bump the Maccabi lead up to 65-54 after thirty minutes of action.

James Webb – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman
Webb led off the fourth quarter with a pair from downtown, Baldwin added a layup, Moskovits put in a 3-point play and added a layup, Brown dunked, Miles came back with points, Colson checked in with a 3-point play, Nebo put in a trio of buckets and Omer Mayer added a triple to sew up the win.
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