Maccabi Rishon Le\u2019Zion defeated Hapoel Eilat 87-85 on Monday night in a dramatic Winner Cup game at Beit Maccabi. In their first official game of the season, Guy Kaplan\u2019s Rishon Le\u2019Zion came out on top after a thriller in which the lead changed hands several times. Chauncey Jenkins starred with 25 points, 19 of them in the first half, including a monster dunk, but unfortunately fouled out with five fouls. That was when Ron Zipper stepped up.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old guard, who saw limited playing time last season at LSU, bounced back from a scoreless first half by pouring in 13 points after the break, including a trio of 3-pointers. Most importantly, Zipper hit a triple in the final minute of the fourth quarter. After Eilat\u2019s Bryant Crawford (13 points) tied the game with a three of his own, Zipper drove to the basket, drew a foul in the final seconds and calmly knocked down both free throws. Eilat, coached by Oren Aharoni, was unable to score on its final possession.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s very, very fun, especially after the way I started the game, when I wasn’t really involved and wasn’t in the game,\u201d Zipper told Sports Rabbi after the game about the decisive plays. \u201cI’m happy that we managed to raise our energy in the second half and really finish it the way we needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n
It may still be early, but Rishon Le\u2019Zion showed flashes of being a special and athletic team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that beyond that, there\u2019s very good chemistry here,\u201d Zipper said. \u201cWe\u2019re very good friends even after practice and before practice and that\u2019s really important. There\u2019s a lot of talent here and I think we\u2019re going to have a really special season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zipper received a warm welcome from the Rishon Le\u2019Zion fans, who even sang him a player song inspired by the Israeli children\u2019s song \u201cMikhaela Aleyza\u201d (\u201cCheerful Choir\u201d), with the similarity between the words \u201cTzip Tzip\u201d and \u201cZipper\u201d clearly influencing their choice. Among the lyrics, the fans sang: \u201cAnd everyone who heard said, Ron Zipper is a warrior.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sharp shooter spoke about his quick connection with the crowd, \u201cI\u2019m very happy. It\u2019s a lot of fun. This is why I play \u2014 for these energies, for this atmosphere. It\u2019s really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zipper, who starred for Hapoel Be\u2019er Sheva in his final season in Israel before heading to college, joined Rishon Le\u2019Zion this summer as the team\u2019s leading Israeli player.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting. This is what I dreamed of, to make an impact and really be an important player on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zipper also explained what he took away from his college season, \u201cTo deal with difficult moments, even when things aren\u2019t going well or when I\u2019m playing less. I kept working hard and believing in myself, and now I\u2019m reaping the rewards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rishon Le\u2019Zion also received 16 points from Trey King, 15 from V.J. King, 7 from Nathan Cota, 6 from Josh Freund, 3 from Maor Nakarshvitz and 2 from Quey Grant. Yaron Goldman and Or Cornelius also saw action.<\/p>\n
For Eilat, Javonte Hawkins scored 16 points, James Dickey had 15, Kendall McCollum added 14, Tzuf Ben Moshe scored 10, Yuval Schneiderman had 7, Aaron Wheeler 6, and Daniel Rosenbaum and Ben Ruina each scored 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maccabi Rishon Le\u2019Zion defeated Hapoel Eilat 87-85 on Monday night in a dramatic Winner Cup game at Beit Maccabi. In their first official game of the season, Guy Kaplan\u2019s Rishon Le\u2019Zion came out on top after a thriller in which the lead changed hands several times. Chauncey Jenkins starred with 25 points, 19 of them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":190536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4378],"class_list":["post-190562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-ron-zipper","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n