Maccabi Tel Aviv sunk Hapoel Eilat 90-77 as Antonius Cleveland paced the yellow-and-blue to the win. Oded Katash’s squad jumped out to an early double-digit lead thanks to captain John Dibartolomeo as well as Cleveland that helped Maccabi cruise to the victory.

John Dibartolomeo scored a layup and a pair from deep while James Webb went from beyond the arc as well to give Maccabi Tel Aviv a 21-6 lead after ten minutes of play. Wade Baldwin hit a deuce and put down a dunk, Jajuan Johnson responded for a rudderless Hapoel Eilat, but Omer Mayer hit his shots from the inside and outside to give the yellow-and-blue a 38-24 lead at halftime.

Antonius Cleveland recorded a hat trick of sorts to begin the third quarter with a layup, dunk and 3-pointer, while Tamir Blatt went from downtown for a pair to keep Maccabi in front 64-50 after thirty minutes of action. Roman Sorkin found the basket, Deishuan Booker responded while Jasiel Rivero scored as well to wrap up the victory.

“We were focused for about one quarter and we started the game well but then we played for the result and not the basketball we wanted to,” Maccabi bench boss Oded Katash began. “The schedule that we are in right now is just tough with so many games both in the Israeli league and Euroleague. We played to our advantages in the game with our bigs and we controlled the rebound taking 19 more than Eilat and we came away with the win.”

“We had a game plan that didn’t really work out in the first half,” Eilat’s interim coach Uriah Mizrachi said. “We didn’t get to the point where we wanted to be and Maccabi took advantage of that and were able to run. In the second half we started to hit our shots but it was tough to stand up to a team like Maccabi with so many weapons and a deep bench. The positive is that we stayed in the game for the entire 40 minutes and didn’t give up.”

Cleveland and Rivero scored 18 points while Sorkin added 14 points in the win as Johnson scored 17 points and Booker chipped in with 15 points in the loss.

Hapoel Galil Elyon dropped Nes Ziona 91-87 as James Feldeine led the Galilee squad to the win. Barak Peleg’s team built up a 69-51 as Feldeine and Lior Carreira paced the attack over the course of the first thirty minutes of action but Isaiah Whitehead and George King led a frantic comeback over the final frame but they came up short as the visitors snatched the victory.

Feldeine scored 27 points, Alphonso Anderson added 16 points and Omar Silverio scored 15 points in the win. Whitehead scored 34 points and King chipped in with 21 points in the loss.