Maccabi Tel Aviv got all they could handle from Hapoel Tel Aviv as the yellow-and-blue just slipped by the reds 80-77 to take the Tel Aviv Derby. Danny Franco’s Hapoel came out raring to go and took the game to an often confused Maccabi as Yam Madar helped his team dominate the play for the first 24 minutes of action, leading 53-37. However, Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s clamped down on defense and rode Chris Jones’s hot hand to just nip their city rivals as the contest came to a close.

Chris Jones led the way with 26 points, 5 assists and drew 10 fouls, Scottie Wilbekin scored 10 points and Othello Hunter added 9 points and 8 rebounds in the win. Yam Madar scored 24 points to pace Hapoel, Tyrique Jones added 16 points and Bar Timor chipped in with 11 points in the loss.

Yam Madar opened the game with a 3-pointer, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Ante Zizic and Omri Casspi scored a quick pair of baskets in the paint but Bar Timor, Reggie Upshaw and Tyrique Jones gave the Reds a 11-10 lead midway through the first quarter. Scottie Wilbekin and Chris Jones put in points inside, Hapoel’s Jones replied with a shot off the glass, Jon Diebler drilled a triple, Madar then took John DiBartolomeo to the cleaners in the key for a pair of buckets to give Danny Franco’s squad a 20-14 advantage after ten minutes of play.

Diebler got the second quarter underway with a dagger 3-pointer, Madar stripped Oz Blayzer of the ball and Jonathan Mor finished the play off with a dunk and Timor went from long distance to give Hapoel a 28-16 with 5:47 left until halftime. Casspi with a dunk tried to put some life into Maccabi, Zizic scored in the paint, Wilbekin put in a deuce and a pair of triples while TJ Cline added a 3-point play to pull to within two points but Timor and Mor made sure to send Hapoel into halftime up 42-35.

Timor and Upshaw began the third quarter with points, Elijah Bryant, Blayzer from downtown and Jones with a 3-point play answered for Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s squad as the score still favored the Reds 53-43 midway through the third quarter. Jones added points with a runner off the baseline, Blayzer did the same, Hunter put down a dunk and DiBartolomeo hit a 3-pointer to bring Maccabi to within 2-points, 59-57 after thirty minutes of action.

DiBartolomeo fed Hunter for an alleyoop to get the fourth quarter going, Jones scored a jumper for the yellow-and-blue but Madar hit a triple to keep the reds in front 64-61 with 6:28 left in regulation time. Hapoel’s Tyrique Jones put down a pair of dunks, Madar scored a floater but baskets by Hunter and Bryant ouellette Maccabi to within 1-point, 72-71 with two minutes remaining in the final frame. Chris Jones used the glass to score while Madar did the same at the other end of the court but Jones hit his patented jumper and scored free throws to ice the game and give the hosts the win.