Maccabi Tel Aviv disposed of Hapoel Jerusalem 89-73 at Yad Eiliyahu thanks a memorable night from Scottie Wilbekin and Tyler Dorsey who made his Israeli League debut. The duo combined for 41 points which included ten 3-pointers to wipe out a one point halftime deficit. J’Covan Brown and James Feldeine tried their best with ten triples of their own but the yellow-and-blue second half firepower was too much for the Reds to handle as they fell to their first defeat of the season.

Wilbekin scored 26 points, Dorsey added 15 points as Omri Casspi chipped in with 13 points for Maccabi who dominated the boards grabbing 44 rebounds to Jerusalem’s 26. Brown led all scorers with 27 points, Feldeine scored 18 points and Tashawn Thomas dropped 14 points in the loss.

Inside a sold out packed Yad Eliyahu Maccabi and Jerusalem went neck and neck early on as Nate Wolters did the damage for the yellow-and-blue while James Feldeine hit a pair of triples for the Reds midway through the first quarter. J’Covan Brown got into the act with eight points including two three pointers as Oded Katash’s squad took a 20-13 lead after ten minutes.

Brown picked up where he left off at the start of the second quarter with yet another 3-pointer but Maccabi quickly cut down the Jerusalem lead to 25-21 with triples by Tyler Dorsey and Scottie Wilbekin plus a layup by Deni Avdija forcing Katash to call a timeout. Dorsey continued to score but Tashawn Thomas notched four straight points for Jerusalem and Brown kept scoring at will finishing the frame with 17 points as the Reds took a slim 37-36 advantage into halftime.

Both squads scored at will to start out the second half but it was Wilbekin with a trio of triples that gave Maccabi a 52-44 lead midway through the third quarter. Wilbekin immediately hit another three pointer as points by Tarik Black, Jake Cohen and another Dorsey 3-pointer gave the yellow-and-blue a 34-18 quarter to go ahead 70-55 at the end of thirty minutes.

Feldeine and Brown made sure Jerusalem wouldn’t go down without a fight as they each hit a triple to open the fourth quarter, but Wilbekin answered back with an and-1 of his own to keep Maccabi in the drivers seat early on in the final frame. The dynamic duo of Dorsey and Wilbekin once again drilled home from deep as the yellow-and-blue ran away with the 89-73 victory.