Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Holon 90-81 as Roman Sorkin, Jaylen Hoard and Rokas Jokubatis were unstoppable to help the yellow-and-blue to the game one semifinal win. Oded Katash’s squad will look to punch their ticket to the Israel Basketball League finals when they head to Holon for the second game of the best-of-3 series.

Dakarai Tucker had the hot hand out of the gate for the visitors while Jokubatis and Sorkin scored for the hosts as the game began with fast paced, end-to-end action. Sorkin continued to pour in the points while a pair of Hoard dunks helped Maccabi to a 11-1 run to close out the first half and take a 46-36 lead.

Tucker kept finding points from beyond the arc while Justin Alston and Michale Kyser also scored for the purples but a flurry of 3-pointers by Levi Randolph, John Dibartolomeo and Will Rayman kept the yellow-and-blue ahead 68-60 at the end of the third quarter. Sorkin kept finding the bottom of the basket but Mike Davis started to heat up while Tucker also scored to cut the lead to just four points, but hit a tough deuce and Jokubatis dialled up long distance to close out the game for good.

Sorkin scored 20 points, Hoard added 14 points and Jokubatis scored 12 points in the win. Tucker scored 22 points, Davis put in 17 points and Alston scored 10 points in the loss.

“I think overall I really liked the way we played,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Oded Katash said. “We didn’t start the game as we wanted to but that was to be expected after a two week break. The last three quarters were very good but Holon is a very dangerous team and they hit some crazy shots in the fourth quarter, but the rebound advantage and second chance points really won us the game.”

“We started well and were very focused,” Holon Head Coach Guy Kaplan began. “We took advantage of Maccabi being a bit rusty and it was a close game, but the rebound situation was tough for us and we had to start chasing them after the second quarter and Maccabi was able to take the win.”

Jimmy Clark spoke about the victory, “I would like us make a maximum effort and get the series over on Friday, but we are taking it game by game and when the finals come we will be ready. We made the extra effort on the small things and once we get the execution down we will be even better.”

Dakarai Tucker looked back at the game, “I think the key thing was that we stayed together the entire game and not argue with each other. We have to rebound together and we have to do everything together, we lost on the rebounds and we will have to box out together in order to win.”

Dakarai Tucker went from deep for Hapoel Holon while Tamir Blatt did the same for Maccabi Tel Aviv to get the game underway, Mike Davis and Jaylen Hoard traded baskets inside, Trevion Williams and Idan Zalmanson also scored in the paint while Tucker went for a deuce and triple to give the purples a 14-9 lead midway through the first quarter.

Rokas Jokubaitis dropped a bucket, DJ Cooper went right into the lane for an easy layup, Justin Alston and Sorkin each went from deep, Iftach Ziv got the friendly roll for a bucket, Jokubaitis nailed an uncontested 3-pointer and John Dibartolomeo knocked down a midrange jumper to end the period all knotted up at 21-21.

Williams fed Will Rayman with a no-look behind the back pass for an easy bucket to begin the second quarter, Alston put in points, Jimmy Clark cleaned up a rebound for an acrobatic deuce, Sorkin and Michale Kyser traded baskets inside and Jokubaitis drained a 3-pointer to give Maccabi a 30-27 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half.

Iftach Ziv put in a 3-point play, Sorkin drilled one home from beyond the arc, Tucker once again went from downtown, Blatt fed Hoard for a dunk and then added another one for good measure, Sorkin and Blatt put in baskets, while Rafi Menco went from deep to give Oded Katash’s team a 46-36 advantage at halftime.

Tucker and Zalmanson went from downtown to start trimming the lead as the third quarter got rolling in earnest, Sorkin and Blatt also added triples of their own, Alston and Levi Randolph both knocked down corner 3-balls, Tucker, Kyser and Zalmanson put in deuces but Dibartolomeo and Rayman went from deep to keep Maccabi in front 68-60 after thirty minutes of action.

Sorkin and Zalmanson traded triples to lead off the fourth quarter, Dibartolomeo hit a long deuce, Williams scored in the paint, Sorkin put down a dunkaroo, Davis went from the inside and outside, Tucker went from downtown, Davis and Cooper scored from downtown, Randolph hit a midrange, and Jokubaitis drained a triple to polish off the win.