Holon got all they could handle from a very game Beer Sheva down south but they were able to show a ton of character and come away with the 89-86 win. Chris Johnson once again came out strong with 27 points and CJ Harris also put in 20 points in the win, a win that coach Stefanos Dedas must be very pleased with especially right before a huge Champions League game in Belarus against Tsmoki-Minsk that Holon also took 75-71. With a 2-2 record, Holon now has a chance to punch their ticket to the next round and that’s good news. “We wanted to come out here and just get the job done which we did,” said Johnson following the win in Minsk. “We had big motivation as we wanted to show that the first game (v Tsmoki which was a loss) was an accident and we had 4 missing players,” explained Dedas. “We are alive in the group and this was another good day for us as this is our 6th consecutive win. We control our chances now.”
How about Yuval Sznaiderman? The Himmelfarb High School product just turned 18 years old and he’s surprised many with his fine play on the ball. Not only has he been able to play the point guard position with poise and grace he can also score as he put in 7 points in Jerusalem’s 96-86 win over Bnei Herzliya. Sznaiderman who came through the Reds youth department moves and grooves all over the court and doesn’t look one bit out of place with the big boys which means that Coach Oded Katash has yet another weapon at his disposal in his arsenal. Adam Ariel who grew up in the Jerusalem youth system spoke about what he saw in the youngster from the perspective of one who had gone through the same process, “I can really relate to him because he grew up in the youth department and then moved up to the senior team. It’s exciting and I am happy for him because he’s a kid that works hard, listens well and wants to learn. He’s been able to grab the opportunity with both hands and that’s great. He has a bright future.”
I’ve been waiting for Reggie Upshaw to finally breakout and have a monster game and we finally got it as the Hapoel Tel Aviv forward dropped 33 points against Nahariya in a 94-71 victory. In fact, I thought that the quiet Upshaw would score a bundle at the end of last season with Maccabi Haifa, but for some reason it just never happened. After having played in Germany, Spain and Italy after featuring at Middle Tennessee, Upshaw arrived in Israel for the Coronavirus playoffs last year and played admirably scoring 14 points and 7 rebounds a game, however, he didn’t have that big one until now. And it was great to see, not only for him but for Hapoel Tel Aviv who finally picked up their second win of the season.
Noam Avivi has been playing terrific basketball this season with an expanded role with Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion. Avivi joined Guy Goodes’s club for the end of the 2019/20 season where he was solid but he has been stellar this year oozing confidence and swagger on the court. With a career high 22 points and 10 rebounds, Avivi helped spark Rishon and help them come back from a double digit second half deficit to snatch a 79-74 win over Nes Ziona. This was huge for the wine city squad who have had their tough moments including in a game that saw big man Darryl Monroe score only 4 points. I remember Avivi from his time with the youth Israel National Team at the 2017 Maccabiah, boy has he become a real force since. Averaging 10.4 points and 4.4 rebonds in in a shade under 23 minutes per game, is also shooting 52.2% (12/23) from long distance. Keep an eye on Avivi he’s going to be a real star.
Eilat just keeps winning and winning and winning. This time they traveled all the way up to Haifa and came back south with a very hard earned 85-81 victory, one that they had to really battle for as Maccabi Haifa played with their backs against the wall. Ariel Beit Halachmi really built a phenomenal team with Joe Ragland, Casey Prather and rookie center, double-double machine Josh Nebo and while we’ve focussed on the big man before, we’re got to give credit to Ragland and Prather. Ragland who came out of Wichita State has years of solid European experience and is having a career season with Eilat scoring 15.8 points and dishing out 6.5 assists per game. Prather who went to college at Florida was a star in Australia for a number of seasons is also putting up mega stats this year by the Reds Sea with 22.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. That’s quite a pair of players.
Hapoel Haifa played Maccabi Tel Aviv tight in the State Cup for the first twenty minutes but after that is was all Yellow & Blue as they cruised to an easy 98-73 win. The Captain John Dibartolomeo was looking more and more like the player we have got to know over the past few seasons and starred for Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s squad. The key for his success will be to make sure he takes it slowly but surely, “I have to be patient and go game by game. I hope I can continue to build on this. I’ll do my best and I am sure I’ll have good days and bad days. But the most important thing is to help as much as I can, be patient and not be too hard on myself.”
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