Maccabi rolls over Herzliya, Galil keeps on winning, Rishon takes first victory

Nov 1, 2021 | Holyland Hoops

Maccabi Tel Aviv easily disposed of Bnei Herzliya 99-69 to move into first place in the Israel Premier League. Keenan Evans scored early and often for the yellow-and-blue as six players featured in double digits to send Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s to the victory. Evans led the way with 19 points, Oz Blayzer added 18 points and Ante Zizic scored 16 points in the win. Chianu Onuaku scored 19 points and Sandy Cohen chipped in with 12 points in the defeat.

“The score shows everything,” Sfairopoulos explained. “We had a good game offensively and defensively and a lot of players participated in a great team game and I’m very happy about that. We are playing well of late and we need to keep our performance at a high level.”

“We didn’t begin the game well and Maccabi punished us for that,” Herzliya coach Oren Aharoni said following the game. “They deserve a lot of credit for playing well on both sides of the ball and we were never in the game.”

Keenan Evans – Photo Credit: Basket.co.il


Maccabi Tel Aviv came out firing as Keenan Evans drilled home a pair of triples and hit his jumpers to drop 14 first quarter points while Ante Zizic dominated the paint as Chianu Onuaku and Quinton Hooker scored for Bnei Herzliya but the hosts led 28-19 after ten minutes.

John DiBartolomeo and Oz Blayzer led the charge with a pair of 3-pointers a piece in the second quarter to rip off a 13-0 run while Iftach Ziv and Jake Cohen also found the basket to bump the yellow-and-blue lead to 56-34 at halftime.

Jake Cohen – Photo Credit: Basket.co.il


Cohen, Zizic and Evans kept scoring at will for Maccabi as Chris Babb began finding the hoop for Herzliya but the hosts increased their lead to 76-44 by the end of the third quarter as DiBartolomeo and Blayzer kept scoring for Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s squad in the final frame to cruise to the 30-point victory.

Hapoel Galil Elyon slipped by Hapoel Haifa 76-71 in a back and forth game on the road by the Carmel Mountain. The visitors took a small lead after the first half and was able to hang on to the advantage during a very intense fourth quarter to notch the win. Bryce Washington recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Ike Iroegbu also scored 20 points in the win. Gregory Vargas scored 17 points and Amit Simhon chipped in with 13 points in the loss.


“Today’s game was all about transition defense, boxing out, & sharing the ball,” the game’s MVP Bryce Washington explained. “When we get stops on defense, we can run in transition and just have fun. Sharing the ball is fun & I believe we did that very well today. It was a great team win. We will enjoy it tonight, however, tomorrow we are back in grind mode and preparing for a tough game on Thursday. Our record is back to 0-0.”

Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion won their first game of the season as they defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 79-67 in the southern capital. Tu Holloway who was making his debut for the visitors put on a show with 24 points helping Guy Goodes’s team to 45-36 lead at halftime as the wine city squad took the victory. Along with Holloway, Kris Clyburn added 22 points and Egor Koulechov scored 10 points in the win. Dererk Pardon with 18 points and Junior Etou with 14 points paced Rami Hadar’s side in the loss.

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