It wasn’t easy but Maccabi Tel Aviv finally put away a pesky Nes Ziona 95-87 to win their Israeli league opener. Yellow-and-blue big men Jarell Martin and Roman Sorkin scored inside at will throughout the game but so did the visitors as Tyler Bey and Shaq Buchanan found easy points while DJ Cooper orchestrated the offense that helped Elad Hasin’s team take a 45-44 lead into halftime. However, Wade Baldwin broke the game open with a trio of 3-pointers in the 3rd quarter to take the lead for good and hold onto the double-digit win.

One concern coming out of the game for Maccabi coach Oded Katash is that Darrun Hilliard did not return to the game after taking a hit to his knee in the first half and will be examined on Sunday.

Jarell Martin led the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds, Roman Sorkin added 21 points, Wade Baldwin chipped in with 15 points and Iftach Ziv scored 9 points, grabbed 5 boards and recorded 6 assists in the win. Tyler Bey paced the visitors with 25 points, Tyler Bey added 23 points, Tomer Levinson scored 15 points and DJ Cooper dished out 18 assists in the defeat.

“We started the game well and then we just stopped playing as we looked at the score,” Maccabi coach Oded Katash explained. “You can see that this is the start of the season and that there will be a lot of ups and downs with our focus as well and we are still not there yet. Things will come together with time but we won and we will continue on.”

“This wasn’t a bad game for us,” Nes Ziona coach Elad Hasin began. “We had some good runs, but we missed out on knowing how to execute at the end of the game. It’s a new team and it takes time until things come together and you can see that Maccabi is going through the same process.”

The Sports Rabbi game MVP Jarell Martin looked back on the game, “We definitely have to close out the games better and we are still a new team. We are still trying to find that chemistry which we will build as we play more games. For me I’m just being confident and my teammates are finding me and putting me in position to make the buckets.”

Tomer Levinson also reflected on the contest and his play which helped Nes Ziona go into halftime in the lead, “It’s a matter of energy and once we were able to find that, we were able to score and make the run that we did. My job is to bring energy and I’m not always going to hit my 3’s. I believe that I have to keep working hard. I think we missed out in this game and we were there in what was a pretty even game, but I’m happy with how I played and the effort the team made.

Darrun Hilliard with a pair of triples and Jarell Martin put in a trio of baskets as well to get Maccabi Tel Aviv off to a 15-8 lead midway through the first quarter. Tyler Bey and Shaq Buchanan tried to keep Nes Ziona close but Roman Sorkin and Jake Cohen took advantage of the paint to give the hosts a 29-14 leads after ten minutes of play.

CJ Williams, Buchanan and Bey began to cut down the advantage as DJ Cooper ran the offense to perfection as Buchanan nailed a 3-pointer at the end of the second quarter to snatch away the lead 45-44.

Wade Baldwin knocked down a trio of 3-pointers, Sorkin added two baskets in the paint while Martin went from the outside and inside to help Oded Katash’s squad retake the lead 62-53 midway through the third quarter. Bey tried to keep Maccabi honest, but Martin, Sorkin and Iftach Ziv all found the bucket to bump the yellow-and-blue lead up to 76-62.

Tomer Levinson drained a pair of 3-pointers to get the fourth quarter underway but Martin, Ziv and Guy Pnini all found the basket to stay ahead and take the 12-point victory.