Maccabi Tel Aviv cruised to a 109-83 over Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion in a full fledged team victory that saw five yellow-and-blue players score in double digits while dishing out 33 assists and forcing the opposition to commit 18 turnovers in the 26-point win. Avi Even’s squad jumped all over the visitors to grab a decisive 32-13 lead after ten minutes as Jalen Reynolds and Derrick Williams led the way. Dror Cohen’s team tried to get back into the game with scoring from Ty Holloway and Anthony Brown to drill the gap down to 8 points in the third quarter but Roman Sorkin couldn’t be stopped as the Israeli big man scored at will to secure the win.

Sorkin scored 20 points, Reynolds added 19 points, Williams checked in with 12 points while Scottie Wilbekin and Keenan Evans each chipped in 10 points in the victory. Holloway and Brown scored 18 points a poise while newcomer Archie Goodwin added 14 points in the defeat.

“We handed out 31 assists and had them commit 18 turnovers which is good,” Even said following the win. “But we also blew a large lead and there are things that we need to work on. We came into the game with the right energy but the key is being consistent.”

“To play the way we did and look the way we did is not good,” Cohen lamented. “We didn’t have aggressiveness and there were issues with body language which could be part of coming back from the break. Maccabi got into the swing of things in front of their home crowd.”

MVP Roman Sorkin spoke about the win, “I enjoyed the game and we all played well. Five guys in double figures is great. We came into the game with a lot of energy and Avi said it’s all up to us. We played well and contributed which is the most important thing, The energy within the team is contagious.”

Hapoel Galil Elyon clipped Hapoel Eilat 74-72 in a thriller as Ike Iroegbu nailed a clutch 3-pointer and free throws to snatch the win in the final minute of play. The Red Sea city squad jumped out to an early lead as Bryon Allen and Toney Douglas led the way but Ike Iroegbu and Nimrod Levi helped cut the double-digit lead to 35-27 at halftime. While Christian Doolittle continued to keep Eilat afloat in the second half, Bryce Washington and Chavaughn Lewis kept chipping away at the Eilat advantage until Iroegbu hit a game tying triple and a pair from the charity stripe to take the lead for good and record the win.

Levi scored 17 points and added 9 boards, Iroegbu checked in with 16 points while Lewis and Washington each scored 10 points in the win. Doolittle paced Eilat with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Allen and Douglas each scored 14 points in the loss.

“We had a rough start but we knew that if we would stick together it would all come together,” the game MVP Ike Iroegbu said following the win. “Coach told us at halftime if we did that the shots would fall. We missed a lot in first half but we were only down 8 points. We knew we would make shots and when they started to fall we locked in on defense.”

“At the end coach told me to go and make a play and I was grateful that he had the trust in me to go and help secure the win. Everyone contributed, Nimmy (Levi) did a good job staying locked in the whole game and Itay hit a really big shot while Karam had a lot of 3’s and Bryce did a great job as always. I’m happy we came out with the win.”