Maccabi Tel Aviv bested Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion 94-83 as Jeff Dowtin scored to his heart’s delight early and late while Oshae Brissett pumped in the points throughout the forty minutes to take the victory. Dowtin filled the bucket for Oded Katash’s team to get the game underway as Qua Grant tried to keep pace for Guy Kaplan’s squad but Roman Sorkin and Brissett scored with ease to give Maccabi a 44-36 lead at halftime. Amin Stevens and Grant tried to keep Rishon close, Jimmy Clark and Brissett kept scoring while Dowtin kept scoring down the stretch to help the yellow-and-blue notch the win.

Dowtin scored 22 points, Brissett added 20 points and Sorkin put in 13 points in the victory while Grant scored 26 points and Stevens chipped in with 22 points in the loss.

Oded Katash talked about the win ms returning to the Israeli league, “It was great to comeback and great to win. We started the game very aggressively and while some of the shots didn’t go in we really played well and we were able to take the win. I’m really happy about how Jeff Dowtin played and you have to have character to do what he did in this game. There are players that have come in and out of the rotation all season and I hope we will see some of the injured players return to action.The games now are very important and it’s not that easy and there was a drop in our energy in the last few games in Europe. It takes time to refocus and I was very happy to see the body language that we exhibited in this game.”

Guy Kaplan summed up the loss, “We started the game well and the fans gave us a lot of confidence. The second half they began to pull away and we had a tough time staying close but we put in a good effort and now we have to look towards Monday’s game against Beer Sheva. We need to get back to our winning ways as there is a lot of pressure.”

Jeff Dowtin reflected on the win, “I was just making shots and I got in the rhythm early and went from there. It’s been an interesting process going back and forth and not knowing sometimes where the next game will be but the staff has made it really easy on us. I’m a professional athlete and I continue to work on my game and work on my craft. I can control what I can control and when my name is called I play.”

Josh Freund spoke about the defeat, “Maccabi came out hot as they are a EuroLeague team and when you make little mistakes they will capitalize on that as we saw how the ended the first half. We kept close but this is something we can build off of. The chemistry is there but we didn’t have that against Netanya and you still have to restart regardless of having been together prior to the war as there was a big break.”

Amin Stevens and Qua Grant scored early on for Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion while Jeff Dowtin had the hot hand for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Josh Freund and Oshae Brissett traded baskets as the yellow-and-blue took an 18-16 lead after ten minutes of play. Marcus Williams started to fill the basket for the hosts while Tamir Blatt and Roman Sorkin countered for the visitors, Grant and John Dibartolomeo traded baskets as Nijal Pearson and Brissett both went from deep while Hankins also scored to give Oded Katash’s team a 44-36 advantage at halftime.

Jimmy Clark went from the outside and inside to begin the third quarter, Zach Hankins added points, Stevens and Grant tried to keep Guy Kaplan’s team close but a pair of 3-pointers from Brissett kept Maccabi ahead 67-54 after thirty minutes of action. Dibartolomeo and Golan Gutt traded triples to get the final frame underway, Blatt dialled up long distance, Grant and Freund responded but Dowtin silenced the crowd with points from deep to close out the game.

Hapoel Galil Elyon stunned Hapoel Tel Aviv 90-89 as Shachar Amir scored the game winning basket with seconds remaining to snatch the shocking victory up at Kfar Blum in the Upper Galilee. The reds took an early lead as Tai Odiase, Levi Randolph and Iftach Ziv helped the visitors stay in front but Justin James, Raz Adam and Shachar Amir made sure to keep the game close as they headed into the final frame all knotted up at 68-68.

In the fourth quarter Antonio Blakeney and Johnathan Motley paced Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad to take a 7-point lead as time wound down but James and Amir scored put Idan Avshalom’s team in front by a point, 90-89 with 2.9 seconds to go. Hapoel had a last gasp effort out of a timeout but Cyril Langevine blocked Levi Randolph’s shot in the paint to preserve the win. James scored 22 points, Amir added 20 points and Adam put in 15 points in the victory while Motley and Blakeney each scored 16 points in the loss.

Idan Avshalom, head coach of Hapoel Galil Elyon said, “This day is about much more than basketball for this entire region. Great pride, great joy, it’s something the people deserve, and I’m very happy. It was quite evident, we tried, as much as we could during the minutes we had, to protect the paint. The game plan was to create as many situations as possible to defend the paint. In such a short time, it’s difficult to build team coordination, but this wasn’t about basketball today it was about things much bigger than basketball and I’m very happy.”

Dimitris Itoudis said after the loss, “It wasn’t just one thing (that caused the loss). Credit to Galil for this win. Of course, we had our chances, but we didn’t take them. Offensive rebounds, the last possession, poor one-on-one defense in many possessions. I don’t define it as something mental. As I said, we came from a different place and so did they, we had to compete. You have to go out, fight in life and give everything on the court.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva outlasted Bnei Herzliya 92-88 as the southern reds were able to outlast the hosts thanks to five players scoring in double digits. Yoav Vitlem (19 points), Jake O’Neill (22) and LJ Figueroa (18) paced Rami Hadar’s team to the win while Jordon Varnado (22), Deishuan Booker (18) and Evan Bruinsma (16p) led Yehu Orland’s squad in the loss.