Ben Saraf did it again. The young Israeli star led Ulm to a 83-69 home win over Trefl Sopot in EuroCup action to move into 3rd place in Group A with a 6-4 record.

Saraf, who came off the bench, did not start well at all, as he missed one shot after the next which led to his team having a tough first half of play. However, in the third quarter, Saraf started getting his feet under him and his shot started to fall. At the 6:28 mark of into the third quarter, Saraf finally scored his first basket after having gone an abysmal 0-8 from the field.

From there, Saraf began to help Ulm open up the gap by scoring time and time from the midrange, in addition to scoring off an offensive rebound while sending a left-handed pass to Nelson Weidemann as he drilled home a corner 3-ball. He penetrated into the paint with ease, assisted on a Philipp Herkenhoff triple and hit his shots in the paint to close out the win.

Overall, Saraf finished with 15 points (7/17 from 2, 0/1 from 3 and 1/2 from the free throw line), 4 rebounds (3 offensive), 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 foul, 1 drawn and 12 in the efficiency index in 25 minutes. Scharf, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, once again showed his strength in money time and proved that you can’t write off any game as his as being so-called “weak” before it’s over.

Against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Saraf was in poor form but scored the winning basket and this time he also starred against Sopot, when, as you may recall, in the first round of the competition, he recorded a huge double-double after a poor start. Saraf’s next game will be played on the road next Wednesday (9:30 PM) against Juventut Badalona and we really, really, can’t wait!

Following the game, Saraf spoke about the win and his performance, “It was tough at the start of the game, but I think we did a great job in the 2nd half as we picked up our intensity and I think that was the difference. I just keep playing my game, maybe at the start my shots didn’t go in but I trust myself, coach trusts me as do my teammates and I just keep doing what I’m doing.”

Head coach Ty Harrelson also spoke about the Israeli sensation, “Ben Saraf had a really great stretch down in the end, took control of the game, some great passes and he can always finish as well.”