Survivors: Kiryat Ata and Hapoel Afula remain in top league, Netanya and Haifa relegated

By Joshua Halickman

May 19, 2025 | Holyland Hoops

Kiryat Ata downed Elitzur Netanya 82-69 to remain in the top league while the diamond city side with the loss will now head to the Leumit League and were relegated along with Hapoel Haifa. Eldad Bentov’s team controlled the pace of play from the outset as five players finished in double digits to ensure that his team would survive and stay up in the Premier League.

Chris Smith and KeAndre Cook opened the scoring for Kiryat Ata while Carlos Marshall and Kyler Edwards countered for Elitzur Netanya but points from Silvio De Sousa gave the visitors a 23-18
lead after ten minutes of play. Yuval Levin knocked down a pair of corner triples, Marshall and Itay Moskovitz tried to keep the hosts in the game but Yuval Sznajderman and Smith scored to give Eldad Bentov’s team a double digit 43-31 advantage at halftime.

Edwards, Marshall and Moskovitz tried to cut the gap as the third quarter began but Cook, Smith and Liam O’Reilly quickly responded, while Levin also scored to give Kiryat Ata a 62-49 lead after thirty minutes of action. O’Reilly and De Sousa got busy to begin the fourth quarter, Marshall kept Idan Avshalom’s team in the game with points a plenty, but Cook filled the basket and Smith added points as well.

Smith scored 20 points, Cook added 16 points and Levin scored 13 points in the victory. Marshall scored 29 points and Edwards put in 17 points in the loss.

“It’s so tough to sum up the season,” Kiryat Ata Head Coach Eldad Bentov began. “We battled and we were able to execute what we needed to in this game. We had belief that we could stay up even with the injuries too so many critical players but we put it all out there and we knew things would come together for us. We won games through the skin of our teeth in some cases and I’m so proud of the guys.”

“I’m very proud of this club and I told them that anything can happen,” Netanya Head Coach Idan Avshalom began. “We had to do the best that we could and Bryce’s injury hurt us in this game. The playoffs really were decided in the first game at Kiryat Ata. We began our journey in the lower leagues and saw the attendance continue to rise. Now we will continue on and that’s sports.”

Yariv Amiram spoke about the season as well, “The DNA of club and system really convinced us that we would be able to make it through this season despite so many injuries and challenges along the way. It was really crazy all season long but we were able to prepare ourselves for the relegation playoffs and we won the games that we needed to in order to survive.”

Carlos Marshall spoke about the defeat and seeing the team relegated, “A lot of emotion and we wanted to win, we put in a lot of work and siren happen. Their athleticism was tough and Bryce Washington wasn’t 100%. I don’t want to make any excuses, we are a young team and we had to take time to figure out what we could do together. We competed against some great players and great teams, but we worked really hard through ups and downs and we have to keep going.”

Hapoel Afula defeated Hapoel Haifa 101-88 to stave off relegation and remain in the top division for another season. In what was a back and forth game until the final few minutes of the contest, El Ellis, Ben Shungu and Sandy Cohen all scored down the stretch to help Ariel Beit Halachmi’s team to the win. Ellis scored 24 points while Shungu and Cohen each scored 18 points in the win. Amit Gershon scored 21 points, Matt Coleman added 17 points and Daniel Rosenbaum put in 15 points in the loss.