Nes Ziona stunned slumping Maccabi Tel Aviv 87-73 as Lior Lubin’s squad took the game right to the defending champions as five players finished in double digits to take the surprise victory. The yellow-and-blue came out strong led by Scottie Wilbekin to take a slim 22-20 lead after ten minutes but the hosts put the pedal to the metal in the second quarter as Frank Bartley and Golan Gutt who scored a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer helped Nes Ziona to a 46-39 lead. Tim Soares and Diante Garrett held Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s team to just 12 points in the third quarter as Nes Ziona put the clamps on Maccabi’s offense as Bartley continued to lead to way to take the 14-point win.

“We came in with good energy and we made sure to be focussed on turnovers, offensive rebounds and other places where we were not allowing cheap points,” Nes Ziona coach Lior Lubin explained. “We prepared for Maccabi for a while and we are continuing with the mindset that we had from before the international break.”

“We have the talent and we were able to beat a Euroleague team,” the game MVP Frank Bartley said following their heroic win. “We stayed together and we are fighting hard and practicing hard. If we play hard we have a chance to win. When you beat a team like Maccabi it gives us great confidence and I couldn’t be more proud of my guys.”

Coach Sfairopoulos spoke anoint the game from his point of view, “I want to congratulate Nes Ziona,” Sfairopoulos began. “They played better than us and they fought harder than us and they deserved to win the game. We were not ready mentally, We allowed a a lot of offensive rebounds in the first half and the second half we had many turnovers and they scored easy points in transition.”