Maccabi Tel Aviv got by Hapoel Gilboa Galil 89-83 in a tight contest that went down to the wire. In a game that was played in Beer Sheva due to the radius penalty handed down to the yellow-and-blue last season by the Israel Basketball Association, Oded Katash’s squad needed a late comeback to secure the hard fought victory. With Sharon Avrahami’s team in from 83-80 on Ish El Amin’s 3-pointer and just 2:35 left on the clock, Levi Randolph came up huge with a layup and a pair of free throws while Roman Sorkin also added points down the stretch to help Maccabi to the victory.
During the course of the game, Tamir Blatt had to come out as he looked to have tweaked a hamstring and did not return to play as a precaution with a Euroleague game against Zalgiris coming up on Thursday.

Roman Sorkin – Photo credit: Basket.co.il
Randolph added 17 points, Sorkin added 15 points and Jaylen Hoard scored 14 points in the win. Jon Davis scored 18 points as Lotam Amsalem and El Amin each scored 15 points in the loss.
“We had some big plays at the end of the game,” Maccabi Head Coach Oded Katash said. We had some terrific defensive plays at the right time. Our guards were a bit tired and we are waiting for some of the players to return from injury but we have to be better as a team. I hope that Rokas Jokubaitis and Wenyen Gabriel will be back in a week from now, I don’t see them playing in the Euroleague this week.”

Oded Katash and Sharon Avrahami – Photo credit: Basket.co.il
“There were really small things that cost us,” Gilboa coach Sharon Avrahami began. “A pair of 3-pointers that went in and out made for a missed opportunity after coming all the way back. I don’t want to take home the credit for playing well but I want to take home the win. The guys battled hard but I really feel like we missed a chance here to take the victory.”

Levi Randolph – Photo credit: Basket.co.il
Levi Randolph summed up the win, “We’re gonna get everyone’s best shot every game, we understand that. We know that we’re a team that is new together and it’s going to take time for us to continue to get better. Fortunately we got the win, everybody fought hard and we just want to continue getting better as the season goes on game by game and along the way get as many wins as possible.”
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