Maccabi Tel Aviv put their Euroleague quarterfinal series loss behind then quickly as they defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 89-82 to end the Israeli league regular season in first place which will give them home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Roman Sorkin helped the yellow-and-blue to a 10-0 run to start off the fourth quarter to erase a 3-point deficit and snatch the victory.

The playoffs will begin for Maccabi Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening (18:30) when they tip-off against Hapoel Beer Sheva while Hapoel Tel Aviv will also open up their quarterfinal series at home against Nes Ziona (19:30).

Oded Katash’s squad came out strong as Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown scored the bulk of the first half points to head into halftime with a 50-42 lead. However, Danny Franco’s team came back in the third quarter with points by J’Covan Brown, Bar Timor, Jordan McRae and Chinanu Onuaku to snatch a slim 70-67 lead. But Roman Sorkin and Bonzie Colson led the yellow-and-blue on a 10-0 run to begin the final frame and retake the lead as Maccabi went on to take the victory.

Sorkin led the way with a 22 point and 10 rebound double-double, Baldwin added 16 points while Lorenzo Brown scored 12 points and dished out 10 assists in the win. Timor paced Hapoel with 17 points, McRae added 16 points and J’Covan Brown scored 13 points and added 10 assists in the loss.

“We came into the game a bit tired,” Katash began. “In the first quarter there was no defense, so it took time to get into the swing of things. Josh Nebo got hurt and Wade Baldwin also had a bit of an injury, but Roman Sorkin made a step up and was great for us. The offensive rebounds were key as were the rebounds in total which is what made the difference. The playoffs will begin and it won’t be simple but we are excited about the postseason.”

Katash continued commenting about the playoff series against Hapoel Beer Sheva and their head coach and good friend Lior Lubin, “They have the best coach in the league. We have to come in very focused and we can’t think this will be an easy series and we have to be very focused. When we came into the arena for this game, we were watching the Alba Berlin playoff game for the objectives reason that David Blatt wanted to watch it (his son Tamir is their point guard). They lost by 24 points in the first game at home against the 7th place team, Ulm. The playoffs are not the regular season and there is no second chance. After the peak that we had we knew that this was going to be a tough game and we have to really focus and begin preparing for the games on Tuesday.”

“The playoffs will certainly be interesting after we came into this game for first place in the league on the road,” Danny Franco said. “We are very content that we had that opportunity after an excellent season. We weren’t able to win like many other Euroleague teams couldn’t do this past season. We were able to do some good things in this game with many assists, 26 of them and 82 points.”

Rafi Menco who scored a crucial 3-pointer in the fourth quarter looked back at the win while also looking ahead to the postseason, “We lost our focus in the third quarter and allowed them to play their game which was being able to score many baskets on the run. I’m happy anytime I can score a 3-pointer to help the team and I always believe that they will go in but I know they all can’t but again I’m happy this one did. We did a great job this season and we will begin the series against Beer Sheva which had a very good year. We need to come in very focused for the series in order to win.”

Bar Timor spoke about the game that was and looked ahead to the playoffs, “We were close and most of our defensive play wasn’t up to par in this game. As for the playoff series against Nes Ziona, they are a good team and one that has picked up a lot of good wins, they have also played in Europe. It won’t be an easy series and we have three days to get ready and we will. I’m sure that our fans will come out on Wednesday and put on a show.”

Tomer Ginat, Chinanu Onuaku and Bar Timor all scored for Hapoel Tel Aviv while Wade Baldwin, Lorenzo Brown and Roman Sorkin found the basket for Maccabi Tel Aviv but a triple by Jordan McRae gave the reds a 12-11 lead midway through the first quarter. Baldwin went from the inside and outside, Brown went from deep, Ginat and Timor scored at the other end as did McRae, Brown hit a midrange and put in a 3-point play while Rafi Menco ended the period with a corner 3-ball to give the hosts a 33-28 lead after ten minutes of play.

John Dibartolomeo and Baldwin went from downtown, Bonzie Colson went in for a layup as did Cohen to bump up the Maccabi lead to 42-32 with five minutes left in the second quarter. McRae scored inside, Dibartolomeo went from deep, Colson added a deuce, Timor came back with points as did Munford but the yellow-and-blue stayed in front 50-42 at halftime.

McRae began the third quarter with points from deep, J’Covan Brown hit a midrange, Sorkin responded with a trio of baskets inside and Timor dialled up long distance as Danny Franco’s team cut the lead down to 61-55 midway through the frame. Onuaku scored a pair, Brown added a basket, Colson scored from deep, Munford answered, Timor put in a 3-point play and Brown went in for a layup to give Hapoel a 70-67 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Sorkin scored a trio inside, Baldwin and Colson added a basket in the paint to send Oded Katash’s squad on an 10-0 run to get the fourth quarter underway, Munford went from deep, Sorkin responded but J’Covan Brown scored to keep Hapoel close down by just 2-points, 79-77 with 5:22 remaining in regulation time. Menco hit a huge shot from beyond the arc, Timor dropped a floater, but Lorenzo Brown hit a turnaround jumper and Baldwin went from downtown to wrap up the win and first place overall in the regular season.