Maccabi Tel Aviv dunked Hapoel Beer Sheva 100-74 as the Yellow & Blue scored early and often as they ran the southern reds out of Yad Eliyahu. Oz Blayzer with 15 points and 8 points to pace Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s squad to take a 29-15 after the first frame and never looked back. Othello Hunter scored 16 points, John DiBartolomeo added 15 points while Tyler Dorsey chipped in with 12 points in the win. Caleb Agada led Rami Hadar’s team with 20 points while Travis Warech and Eric Griffin scored 18 points in the loss.

Hapoel Beer Sheva may have scored the first points of the game via Eric Griffin but Oz Blayzer, Scottie Wilbekin and Othello Hunter put Maccabi Tel Aviv in front 15-4 midway through the first quarter. Griffin kept scoring but so did Wilbekin from deep and Hunter from the inside as well as Blayzer to give the Yellow & Blue a 29-15 advantage after ten minutes of play.

Tyler Dorsey – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Tyler Dorsey, Dragan Bender as Angelo Caloiaro continued to score as Caleb Agada and Travis Warech tried to keep the southern reds afloat but Dori Sahar, Hunter and Wilbekin poured on the offense to take a 53-31 lead at halftime.

John Dibartolomeo – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Griffin, Warech and Amit Suss tried to trim the Maccabi lead but John DiBartolomeo nailed a pair of triples with the second one being of balance in the corner at the end of the shot clock to stay in front 63-45 midway through the third quarter. Amir Bell and Agada pushed to keep Rami Hadar’s squad in the game but Yovel Zoosman and DiBartolomeo and began to score to put Maccabi ahead 79-53.

Eidan Alber – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Eidan Alber scored his points of the games while Dorsey and Zoosman also scored but Spencer Weisz and Agada did as well to try to cut the margin, however, DiBartolomeo and Zoosman helped wrap up the 100-74 victory.

Maccabi bench – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

3-Pointers
Cheering From Bench

One of the things that has been abundantly clear over the last few games for Maccabi Tel Aviv after last Friday’s loss to Hapoel Gilboa Galil is the cheering and activity on the Yellow & Blue bench throughout the course of the game. This has been something that has been lacking all season long whether it was the Euroleague or Israeli league games and ever since Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s squad fell to the Galilee side this has been a pleasant change and could be their recent secret to success. “It’s very important to do without our fans and we also have a great atmosphere in the lockerroom. We miss them but we have to live with this situation. Maybe we will have fans at the end of the season. They each really support the players on the court and when a player like Eidan Alber has a good moment everyone is happy.” Interestingly enough Captain John Dibartolomeo shed a little light on the fact that the bench had been quiet during games and that the cheering from the bechnwhihc may seem small can really make a huge difference. “It’s extremely important when there are no fans and we have to pick each other up. We’ve talked about that more than once and I’m happy that we are doing that now.”

Angelo Caloiaro – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Ready To Go

Coach Sfairopoulos was happy with how his team was ready to go all week long in these three league games against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Beer Sheva and he also believes that this won’t lead to complacency when they tipoff next week in the State Cup Semifinals against Hapoel Holon. “I want to congratulate the team for their readiness, concentration and focus for this game. This is the second game in a row that we did this and I am satisfied how the players came from the bench. We had good rhythm, we will rest now and focus on the next opponent.

Eric Griffin – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Content With Effort

As for Hapoel Beer Sheva this is the second game in a row that they were manhandled by their opponent when they fell earlier in the week to Hapoel Jerusalem after having won a hard fought battle at Rishon Le’Zion. The Southern Reds shooting was brutal for the second game in a row going an abysmal 42% and 46% from 2-point range and 20% and 16% from beyond the arc. YIKES! However, Rami Hadar was content with the effort his guys put in against Maccabi more so than versus Jerusalem, “We played better today and I wasn’t upset with any shot that we took. We had guys that dove for the balls and I know that we will be fine. I don’t want to take away the credit from Jerusalem and Maccabi’s defense where you have less time to shoot.