”I worked my whole life for this moment” Batemon helps lead Kiryat Ata to stunning win over Maccabi

Jan 22, 2024 | Holyland Hoops

Kiryat Ata stunned Maccabi Tel Aviv 86-78 as James Batemon starred for the visitors as they took the win. Sharon Avrahami’s squad came out and played the yellow-and-blue toe-to-toe at Yad Eliyahu as the visitors grabbed a slim 39-38 lead at halftime thanks to Amin Stevens’s play inside. Batemon started to fill the basket as did Ben Saraf and Raz Adam, Lorenzo Brown and Wade Baldwin tried to pull Oded Katash’s team back into the game but it was too little, too late as Kiryat Ata took the surprise victory.

Raz Adam – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


Batemon led the way with 29 points, Stevens added 18 points, Saraf scored 15 points and Adam chipped in with 14 points in the win. Brown scored 18 points and Baldwin added 16 points in the loss.

Sharon Avrahami – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


“The win over Hapoel Tel Aviv gave us a lot of confidence,” Sharon Avrahami said. “We knew that Maccabi was going to be strong after the derby loss, but we knew we had to stay in the game early and then we could win the game. We played terrific defense and didn’t let them take rebounds. It was just incredible.”

Tomer Porat ans Ben Saraf – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


Avrahami spoke about Ben Saraf and the young Israelis , “We won with giving four Israelis a lot of minutes on the court, which is a statement of intent for Israeli basketball to let the young players like Raz Adam, Ben Saraf, Tomer Porat and Guy Palatin play. My focus is on the Israelis, that’s the greatest pride. It’s hard to describe the satisfaction and fun of seeing it happen. Many people didn’t give us a chance to stay in the league, even last season. They told me I was crazy to go with one foreign guard and to give the keys to Ben Saraf and Palatin. With 30 seconds to go in the game when Maccabi came back, I saw Ben [Saraf] and Raz [Adam] on the court making the decisions against this great team and I calmed down. If we continue to keep up playing like this, we can beat any team and if we don’t do these things, we can lose to any team.”

Josep Berrocal and Oded Katash – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


Congrats Kiryat Ata as they played very well,” Maccabi assistant coach Josep Berrocal said. “There are many reasons as to the way we played the past few games and how we played. We didn’t have our flow and we gave up many 3-pointer but now the challenge for us is to be positive and get ready for Thursday’s Euroleague game.”

James Batemon and Bonzie Colson – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman


The MVP of the game James Batemon spoke about the win, “Honestly i don’t know how to feel, I’m just taking it all in. I come from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I’m not supposed to be here. To get a win like this, a big win against a Euroleague team. I’m just emotional right now. It feels good. I worked my whole life for this moment.”

John Dibartolomeo – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


Maccabi captain John Dibartolomeo looked back at the loss, “It’s hard to explain and a tough moment for us in the season losing the derby and then losing at home hurts. We didn’t play well and we didn’t deserve to win. We made terrible mistakes on defense we didn’t share the ball well on offense, you have to give them some credit but we have to focus on ourselves and everyone probably could have played better.”

Ceremony for Avi Amar and the fallen police officers – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


Prior to the game a ceremony was held for fallen police officers from October 7th as the family of Avi Amar was on hand while a moment of silence also marked the loss of Lion Lubin who passed away after a battle with cancer at the age of 46.

Lorenzo Brown – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


Bonzie Colson and Lorenzo Brown went from deep to begin the game for Maccabi Tel Aviv, James Batemon also dialled up long distance for Kiryat Ata as the hosts grabbed a 13-10 lead midway through the first quarter. Akia Pruitt put down a dunk, Ben Saraf scored off of a Guy Palatin steal while the latter then striped the ball again and took it himself to the rack, but free throws from James Webb and Roman Sorkin gave Maccabi a 17-16 lead after ten minutes of play.

Amin Stevens – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman


Amin Stevens opened the second quarter with a pair of baskets, Tamir Blatt and Rafi Menco went from deep for Oded Katash’s team, Batemon and Raz Adam went from beyond the arc to take a 29-28 lead with 4:36 left in the first half. Stevens put in a pair of buckets on the inside, Wade Baldwin put in a 3-point play, Saraf came back with a triple, Baldwin dropped a deuce but Sharon Avrahami’s team took a 39-38 advantage into halftime.

Ben Saraf – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman


Brown put in a basket while Batemon went from downtown to start off the third quarter, John Dibartolomeo went from the outside and inside, Raz Adam put in a bucket, Pruitt went from deep and Stevens scored in the paint to open up a 52-47 Kiryat Ata lead midway through the frame. Baldwin came out of the timeout with points, Batemon came back with a 3-pointer, Adam scored and Batemon added a 3-point play, Blatt knocked down a triple but Kiryat Ata stayed in front 61-52 after thirty minutes of action.

Ben Saraf – Photo credit: Dov Halickman


Tomer Porat found points, Saraf scored from the inside and outside, Baldwin and Rivero came back with points, Batemon went twice from deep, Adam picked up another bucket, Saraf cleaned up the boards, Sorkin scored a pair of baskets, Brown put in a floater, Dibartolomeo scored a layup but Saraf put in the last bucket of the game to give Kiryat Ata the shocking win.

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