Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Bnei Herzliya 92-74 as five yellow-and-blue players finished the game in double digits to notch the win. Avi Even’s squad outplayed Oren Aharoni’s team in every facet of the game over the course of the 40 minutes whether it was rebounding, distributing the ball or shooting percentages as Maccabi was able to pull away during the second half with fine play by John Dibartolomeo and Roman Sorkin to take the victory.

Sorkin led all scorers with 22 points, Dibartolomeo and Scottie Wilbekin each added 14 points while Ante Zizic and Iftach Ziv scored 13 points a piece in the win. Chris Babb paced the visitors with 19 points, Chinanu Onuaku added 14 points and Aleksandar Zecevic scored 10 points in the loss.

“I am very content and I am happy that the players played the game clear understanding as to where we are heading in both competitions,” Maccabi coach Avi Even said. “We played against a good team and did what we needed to. We need consistency and the players who came in played with more energy.”

“We lost our focus and if you lose your focus here Maccabi who is in great shape will punish you,” Oren Aharoni said. “We gad some bad minutes on offense and that led to our poor play on defense. We are a good team and we have learn from this and juts like every club we have our strengths and those things that we have to work on.”

“At half-time in the lockerroom Avi yelled at us a bit and said we weren’t focussed enough of defense,” Sorkin said following the game, “I’m happy that we were able to turn things around before we start the Euroleague playoffs. As for Real Madrid we played them twice this year and we have a day or so to celebrate Passover and get ready for them. The next game is always most important and we have to be prepared to play our game and listen to our staff.”

Ante Zizic worked the inside while Scottie Wilbekin, Jake Cohen and Jalen Reyniolds all hit their shots from the outside as Maccabi Tel Aviv jumped out to a 25-18 lead after ten minutes of play. Iftach Ziv, Scottie Wilbekin and Ante Zizic continued to fill the basket for Avi Even’s team but Chris Babb, Chinanu Onuaku and DJ Cooper began cutting down the lead, however, John Dibartolomeo nailed a 3-pointer to end the half for Maccabi as they took a 49-37 advantage into halftime.

Babb, Onuaku and Shawn Dawson bagel chipping away at the Maccabi lead but Roman Sorkin, Reynolds and Dibartolomeo who once again dialed up long distance at the end of the third quarter pushed the Yellow & Blue lead up to 10 points, 68-58. Sorkin began scoring at will over the course of the final frame as the hosts pulled away for a 92-74 win.