On Wednesday evening, Inter Aliyah faced the most important game of the season so far, taking on 2nd place Maccabi Tel Aviv Ganei Tikva away from home, knowing that a win would see the club leapfrog their opponents in the standings. Despite the likes of Barak Swartz, Yona Kadosh, Yakir Naftali, Zack Goldberg and Nyv Segev not available for the game, AJ Mitnick was able to welcome back Ryan Clamage for this crucial contest.

Inter raced into a 6-0 lead thanks to two 3-pointers from Sam Roche but Maccabi scored 12 unanswered points immediately after. This prompted Inter to step up and raced off to a 12-0 run to take a 22-12 advantage. From that point on, Inter never relinquished the lead and although Maccabi remained competitive throughout, they never really got close as the team dominated the second quarter.

Sam Roche led the way with 26 points, while both Jake Pemberton (21) and Ryan Clamage (16) got into double-digits. Big men Seba Kanovich and Nadav Krista-Tenenbaum were essential on the defensive end as well.

The match also marked Amishav Weinstein’s last appearance for the club in the near future, with the wing drafting to an elite combat unit in the IDF. With his family in attendance, Amishav delivered another impressive performance with his brave movements all over the court.

Since the season re-started after the mid-season break Inter are undefeated and on an 8-0 run while overall, Inter’s record is 14-4. A win over Liga Bet leaders Maccabi Ordea Ramat Gan next week would see the see them have equivalent records.