Nes Ziona used a big second half to chalk up a 85-70 win over struggling Hapoel Beer Sheva who are in the thick of the relegation battle. George King and Rawle Alkins filled the bucket for Nes Ziona while Egor Koulechov and Mike Lewis did the same for Hapoel Beer Sheva as the squads went into halftime with Meir Tapiro’s team holding a 35-33 advantage. However, Jerome Meyinsse along with Isaiah Whitehead along with King and Alkins came out of fire in the second half to pull away for the 15-point victory.

Alkins led the way with 22 points, King added 21 points while Whitehead and Meyinsse each scored 13 points a piece in the win. Koulechov scored 18 points and Lewis added 14 points in the loss.

“This was another good win and we are playing together helping one another and we are also playing well on defense,” Nes Ziona head coach Meir Tapiro. “The team on the court itself was very organized before I got here and perhaps I worked on their shooting and speeding up their game.”

“We had another tough game again and made poor decisions,” Beer Sheva head coach Oren Aharoni said. “We lost the battle of the boards which really hurt us and when the game was very closed we came up short and Nes Ziona punished us. We now have a very short time to prepare for our next game and I hope that we can find some solutions in this critical matchup.”

Hapoel Galil Elyon travelled down south and came out with a crucial 87-77 win over Hapoel Eilat. The visitors got off to a quick start as Lior Carrera and Juvonte Reddic found points, but Jajuan Johnson and Deishuan Booker pulled the teams even at 32-32, however, a triple by James Feldeine and a layup from Shaq Buchanan gave Barak Peleg’s squad a 41-36 lead at halftime. Johnson and Stewart tried to cut into the Galil advantage as the second half got underway, but DJ Kennedy, Feldeine and Buchanan kept the Galil Elyon in front for the rest of the way to take the important win in the battle against relegation.

Kennedy scored 18 points, Buchanan added 15 points and Feldeine scored 14 points in the victory. Johnson led all scorers with 26 points and Booker chipped in with 21 points in the defeat.

Hapoel Afula mounted a second half comeback to take the 68-65 victory over Bnei Herzliya up in the Jezreel Valley as they continued their solid first season in the top division. Bryson Williams, Tyler Stone and Frederic Bourdillon got busy for Bnei Herzliya while Spencer Weisz, Cam Shelton and Lukas Goldenberg responded for Hapoel Afula but Dan Shamir’s team grabbed an early 34-29 lead at halftime. Weisz and Noam Avivi came out strong in the second half to grab the lead while Williams and Stone countered but big buckets by Shelton and Goldenberg in the final minute handed Roie Perel’s squad the win.

Weisz scored 13 points, Shelton added 12 points and Goldenberg put in 10 points to take the victory. Williams with 18 points and Stone with 17 points paced Herzliya.