By Aaron Glenn

Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion 74-51 Hapoel Holon

Darryl Monroe and Shawn Dawson carried Rishon to a dominating victory over Hapoel Holon. Monroe scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Dawson one upped him scoring 22 points while grabbing 13 rebounds. Holon had a terrible game shooting the ball hitting only 26% of their shots and putting in 54% of their free throws.

Hapoel Jerusalem 95-89 Maccabi Haifa

EJ Rowland and Hapoel Jerusalem edged out Haifa in OT. Rowland had 20 points to go along with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Donta Smith helped out putting in 16 points while dishing out 8 assists on the night. Gregory Vargas had a good game for Haifa scoring 18 points and 7 assists. Oz Blayzor chipped in 19 points for Haifa in the defeat. The win puts Jerusalem 2 games ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the standings.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 91-72 Maccabi Ashdod

Maccabi Tel Aviv pulled away in the third quarter to beat Ashdod by 19. Gal Mekel was the star of the night scoring 26 points while dishing out 5 assists after starting the game on the bench. Tel Aviv shot very well from inside the arc draining 65% of their attempts. Diante Garrett, Charles Thomas, and Isaiah Swann combined for 63 of Ashdod’s 72 points in the loss.

Ironi Nahariya 89-88 Hapoel Tel Aviv

Led by the 18 points and 16 rebounds of Richard Howell, Nahariya took down Hapoel Tel Aviv in a double OT thriller. Both teams were sloppy with the ball as Hapoel had 22 turnovers and Nahariya lost the ball 24 times. Hapoel was in control going into the 4th quarter. Up by 11, Hapoel missed a lot of late game free throws to allow Nahariya to come back and win the game in double OT. Robert Rothbart had a game high 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Hapoel.

Bnei Herzliya 103-79 Ironi Nes Ziona

Having six players score in double-digits, Bnei Herzliya dominated the game against Nes Ziona from the start. Herzliya was efficient from inside the arc hooting 69% from the field, and also hit 12 three point shots on the night. There were no true stars in this game as Herzliya played beautiful team basketball.