Maccabi Rishon Lezion 86-90 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv ran away with the first two quarters of the game leading by 7 after the first frame and 17 at halftime, while holding a 15 point advantage at the end of the third quarter. However, the 4th quarter was a different story. Maccabi was able to hold on for the win, but was outscored 35-24 in the over the course of the final ten minutes. Rishon almost took the lead but their fouls added up and the Yellow & Blue came up on top at the end, winning by only 4 points. Deshaun Thomas led the charge for Maccabi Tel Aviv with 18 points and 5 rebounds, Michael Roll was right behind him recording 17 points and 3 assists while Norris Cole had 16 points but also committed 5 turnovers. Rishon Le’Zion had 6 players scoring in double figures in the loss as Oded Brandwein scored 16 points and dished out 4 assists and Jason Siggers augmented Rishon with 14 points and 6 helpers. Murphy Holloway recorded 13 points and 4 rebounds while Drew Crawford had 12 points with 3 steals.

Deshaun Thomas:
“Shout out to Rishon Le’Zion, they played really hard and I think we played really well the first half. They came out on a run at the end, but I think that our team kept our composure and we got the win. Just being a pro, being ready, I give thanks to my teammates because they put me in a great position. Coach would run a play for me and like I said my teammates would put me in a good position and I got going. I got a couple tip-ins and a couple easy baskets and my teammates made that possible.”

Coach Neven Spahija:
“It’s very difficult to play here and they are a very good team and aggressive. They played focused for 40 minutes and they didn’t give up. Credit to their coach for doing a great job. I think overall tonight we were a better team, we led from the first to the last moment, except the third quarter after my technical foul, that was a momentum change in the game. They jumped on us, they made some 3’s and they came back, but in the end we found a way to win and that is most important. We had some turnovers also, I saw that some of my players need to learn how to play at this level. Especially Norris Cole had 5 turnovers just because of the rules not because of his quality of play. Anyways, I got a technical foul when they called traveling and I have to see if it actually was a travel but I know the rule allowed the player to do that but the ref saw differently. I didn’t think that I deserved a technical foul but it is what it is, we won against a good team and nobody played more than 24 minutes.”

Hapoel Eilat 67-82 Hapoel Jerusalem
For the Jerusalem vs Eilat game recap and analysis CLICK HERE.

Bnei Herzliya 64-88 Hapoel Tel Aviv
Hapoel Tel Aviv pulled away in the 4th quarter to beat Bnei Herzliya 88-64. Neither team had an edge on the other, Hapoel Tel Aviv was down by 1 at the half and was only up by 6 at the end of the third frame. Hapoel closed the game by outscoring Herzliya 28-10 in the 4th quarter building on their third quarter lead and sealing the victory. Jerel McNeal led Hapoel Tel Aviv with 21 points and 5 assists while Tomer Ginat had a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Tywain McKee dropped 12 points as Jeff Allen and Rafi Menco each added 11 points in the win. Jeff Adrien and Shawn Dawson were the only 2 players scoring in double digits for Herzliya, with the former managing 18 points and 7 rebounds as Dawson dropped 18 points and pulled down 5 rebounds.

Maccabi Haifa 69-75 Hapoel Holon
Maccabi’s 4th quarter comeback fell short as Holon took the win 75-69. The visitors dominated the middle 2 quarters of play being up by 15 at halftime and 14 at the end of the third quarter. The Greens staged a comeback outscoring Holon 22-14 in the 4th quarter but could not get the job done. Joe Alexander and Glen Rice Jr. led the scoring for Holon as the latter recorded a double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds while the latter had 17 points with 6 rebounds. Corey Walden supplemented them with 16 points and 4 rebounds as Guy Pnini dropped 12 points and added 2 assists. Angel Rodriguez guided Haifa scoring 15 points with 5 rebounds and 4 assists as Luke Martinez chalked up 13 points and 3 assists.

Hapoel Gilboa/Galil 92-73 Nahariya
Hosts Hapoel Gilboa/Galil stepped up to deliver an upset win over Nahariya in week 5. Both outscoring their average (80) and conceding below average (78), Gilboa/Galil earned a fantastic victory with a once-in-a-lifetime performance from Tyler Stone who ended the night by setting his own career high with 36 points, adding 11 rebounds to round out a double-double. Gilboa were also supported by J’Covan Brown (17p, 7r) and Elijah Johnson (11p, 5r) who each earned plus/minuses of 19 and 21 respectively. Nahriya’s 3 game unbeaten streak came crashing down as Alex Young and Corey Webster’s performances were underwhelming. Nahariya found a new savior on the night, Denzel Livingston, who stepped up to fill the hole left by the stars’ poor display playing 31 minutes and ending the evening with a stellar double-double of 23p and 13r.

Maccabi Ashdod 77-87 Nes Ziona
Week 5 pinned hosts Maccabi Ashdod against fellow strugglers Nes Ziona after Ashdod’s stunning win over Hapoel Jerusalem last gameday. Despite another week of quality performances from David Laury (24p, 7r) and Cameron Long (22p, 2r, 6a) Ashdod couldn’t help but concede over their average and gave up 87 points on the night. Despite the disappointment, Nes Ziona made it hard for Ashdod as 5 of Ironi’s men managed 9 points or more with Daequan Cook and Golan Gutt topping the list with 22 and 21 points respecively. Gutt’s night was especially remarkable as he managed those 21 points in just 18 minutes.