Kiryat Ata downed Hapoel Haifa 93-85 by the Carmel Mountain to get the Israel Basketball League Preseason Winner Cup Tournament underway as five players scored in double digits for the visiting squad who will now ready to face Maccabi Tel Aviv in the quarterfinals that will take place on Tuesday September 26th at the Drive In Arena in Tel Aviv.

Sharon Avrahami’s team stayed in front for the majority of the game that saw veteran forward Amin Stevens record a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while James Batemon scored 20 points, Greg Whittington added 18 points, Raz Adam chipped in with 13 points and Guy Palatin dropped 10 points a game that saw up and coming sensation Ben Saraf make his first division debut in which he scored 5 points.

For the hosts Marcus Bingham led the way with 24 points, Junior Etou added 19 points and Jonathan Stark scored 18 points in a loss that saw Haifa lose the battle of boards 42-33 while giving up 16 offensive rebounds.

“This was a good game where I can take a number of good things as well as other things that we need to improve,” Avrahami said. “The minutes that we defended means we can stay in the game but we gave too many points in the second half and if you give up so many points you won’t always be able to win. As for Saraf’s debut some believe it’s hocus pocus but it’s not as it will take time. He did some very nice things but he needs to continue to improve his game. As for Maccabi we’ll play them both in the Winner Cup and league in a very short time, it is what it is, but it’s always great playing them.”

“We are missing some practice time and we still don’t have a full squad,” Herzliya coach Oren Aharoni said. “We have a lot of work to do as he still have to get our defense down pat. We were out-rebounded and gave up 16 boards on the offensive glass.”

Israeli guard Guy Palatin also chimed in on the win, “We ran, played together and I was happy to as how we looked in this game. When Haifa got back into the game we stuck together and that is how we won at the end of the day as our defense really stifled our opponent. Saraf put down a gorgeous dunk and I hope there will be many more games for him just like this.

Kiryat Ata came out of the gates quickly to grab a 7-2 lead thanks to James Batemon and Greg Whittington but Jonathan Stark helped spur Hapoel Haifa to a 12-0 run, however, Guy Palatin from the outside and inside plus Ben Saraf’s first top division points on a salacious dunk gave the visitors a 25-17 lead after ten minutes of play.

Sharon Avrahami’s squad paraded to the free throw line with regularity over the first half of the second quarter with Ryan Mikesell and Raz Adam doing the damage from the charity stripe, Stark and Etou countered for Oren Aharoni’s team while Marcus Bingham began finding points in the paint to keep the hosts close but down 43-36 at halftime.

Haifa closed the gap swiftly with points by Itay Moskovitz, Bingham and Gur Lavi but Batemon, Amin Stevens and Whittington responded in earnest, Bingham and Amit Gershon scored to cut the lead down once again however, Palatin along with triples form Saraf and Whittington sent Kiryat Ata into the final frame in front 68-61 after thirty minutes of action.

Adam and Whittington went to work to start the fourth quarter, Bingham put down a big dunk to try and ignite the fans but Adam scored from the outside and inside, Bingham kept scoring but Stevens and Batemon also found nothing but net while Palatin hit the dagger 3 to send Kiryat Ata on a quarterfinal date with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Ironi Maccabi Ramat Gan got by Bnei Herzliya 93-84 to advance to the Winner Cup quarterfinals where they will tipoff against Hapoel Tel Aviv on Friday September 22nd. Dan Shamir’s squad jumped out to an early lead as Chris Babb and Justin Simon played an instrumental part in staying ahead of the Winner League newcomers. However, Kendale McCullum along with Justin Alston as well as a tis of triples by Phil Greene sent Shmulik Brenner’s side into the lead late in the game as they punched their ticket to the next round of play.

McCullum led the way with 22 points and 11 assists, Alston added 21 points and 9 rebounds while Greene checked in with 11 points in the victory. Simon paced Herzliya with 21 points, Eitan Burg chipped in with 19 points, Ryan Boatright scored 16 points and Chris Babb added 15 points in the defeat.