Israel defeated Cyprus 83-54 as the blue-and-while swept the pair of World Cup qualifiers held in Limassol. Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad jumped out to a quick lead thanks to Adam Ariel, Roman Sorkin and Idan Zalmanson while Simon Michail countered for Cyprus but the blue-and-white took a 45-29 into halftime. Netanel Artzi, Tamir Blatt and Zalamson continued to fill the basket over the course of the second half as the Israel closed out the 29-point win.

With the victory, Israel punched their ticket to the second stage of qualifying and are now 2-2 and in 3rd place in Group E play. Croatia sits atop the standings with a 4-0 record while Germany is in second sporting a 2-2 record but are ahead of Israel due to having beaten them in the first window of play. Adam Ariel, Idan Zalmanson and Roman Sorkin all scored 13 points in the win while Filippos Tigkas scored 15 points and Simon Michail added 13 points in the loss.

Head Coach Ariel Beit Halachmi reflected on the game, “It’s very hard to play two games against the same team in a short time like this and you could see that in this game. We started well but them didn’t play as best as we could but we took the two wins which is what we wanted too. We didn’t play our best but we came away with a pair of wins and that is what is most important.”

Joaquin Szuchman also spoke about the match that was, “It was a great experience to come back to the national team after a few years and there was a great atmosphere here. The guys played and practiced well and I am very happy to take the two wins. I want to thank everyone for their warm wishes over the past few days and we want to really send our prayers and support to the IDF and the entire nation of Israel during this time.”

Adam Ariel talked about the situation back in Israel and the pair of victories, “We had mixed feelings, we knew we had to finish the job here and we got so many messages from people back home as to how important this game was going to be for them so we wanted to represent the country with pride as the Israel National Team. We are thinking of everyone back at home and we are here with our families and children. We are happy we were able to do what we needed to. We knew we had to come out of this window with two wins and we enjoyed doing just that.”