Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 76-70 on Sunday night in a home game at Yad Eliahu, putting the teams level with 15 wins from 18 games with a share of first place in the standings after the end of round 18.

Maccabi came into the game undermanned, missing two of their best foreigners (Jaylen Hoard and Rokas Jokubaitis) – and it showed in the first half, with the Reds going into the main break up 41-30. Although Maccabi came back and, courtesy of a 22-0 run in the second half to lead 62-56 in the last quarter, the Reds steadied and came away with their first home victory against the Champions at Yad Eliahu.

While disappointing for the Yellow & Blue to lose a derby, they still hold the tiebreaker over their cross-town rivals after winning the first fixture between the teams earlier this season 97-79.

Johnathan Motley (16 points and 7 rebounds), Yam Madar (14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks) and Marcus Foster (12 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist) led the scoring for Hapoel, while Jasiel Rivero (15 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block), Marial Shayok (13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals) and Levi Randolph (11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals) were the top scorers for Maccabi.

Yam Madar – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman

“First we’re excited that we’re alive and we are thankful for that,” Hapoel coach Dimitrios Itoudis said after the victory. “Sport is a profession, we’re happy that we gave a bit of joy to our fans. We controlled the game from the start, unfortunately in the first half and a little in the fourth and third quarters – credit to Maccabi, we let them in with turnovers that led to threes and baskets and their fouls.”

“I didn’t know if I would be able to play [because of injury],” Madar said. “I haven’t trained for two and a half weeks, but it’s a derby, it’s bigger than everything. A game which we did not give up.”

“Maybe we were missing some legs, at the end of the day we knew that we were coming in without a lot of players and not in optimal condition,” Maccabi coach Oded Katash summed up the game. “Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem and even some other teams are at a top level in our league and I’m happy about that and it’s good for our basketball. There’s more time and the most important thing is to be healthy and for everyone to return, we have more to do to maintain home-court advantage [for the playoffs]. I think that Hapoel Tel Aviv is a very good team.”

Dimitrios Itoudis – Photo Credit: Yehuda Halickman

In other Round 18 games:

The Round kicked off on Saturday night with Maccabi Ramat Gan defeating Hapoel Haifa 106-79 in Haifa. Kendale McCullum (26 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals) and captain Adam Ariel (24 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist) starred for the visitors.

Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Bnei Herzliyah 94-79 at home. Tarik Phillip (16 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists) top-scored for the victors, while John Meeks had a game-high 25 points (along with 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal) for the visitors.

Hapoel Galil Elion defeated Hapoel Gilboa Galil 76-69. Lennard Freeman (16 points, 9 rebounds and 1 assist) top-scored for the victors, while Ben Moore had a game-high 17 points (along with 9 rebounds and 2 assists) for Gilboa.

Elitzur Netanya defeated Kiryat Ata 74-89 at home on Monday night. Netanya’s Kyler Edwards (17 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block) and Carlos Marshall Jr. (17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals) top scored.

In the later game on Monday, Hapoel Holon defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 88-82. Justin Alston (23 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks) starred for the Purples, while Beer Sheva’s Justin McKoy (27 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal) was the game’s top scorer.

The Round ended on Wednesday night with Ness Ziona with an 87-74 home victory over Hapoel Afula, with the home team’s Bryce Brown starring (26 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists).