The 11th round of the Winner Basket League was closed today (Monday), when Bnei Herzliya recovered from the painful elimination from Europe and won 70:82 over the faltering Gilboa Galil, which is in last place with its seventh loss in a row in the league and without a permanent coach after the northern club parted ways with Rami Hadar less than a week ago .
The first half opened with the superiority of the cup holder with a run of 0:7 led by Morris Kemp and Chris Babb while on the other hand the guest had difficulty scoring from outside the arc. Yezraeli’s trainees got into things and answered with a 0:7 run of their own and remained close in the first quarter, but in the second quarter Aharoni’s trainees with excellent offensive ability opened a double-digit gap against the weak defense of Gilboa Galil.
The second half was also under the control of Aharoni’s team. The cup holder controlled the paint and didn’t give Yezraeli’s apprentices a chance to come back led by Sandy Cohen and Quinton Hawker. London Frantz, who finished with 16 points, tried to lead the attack of the guest, but the northerners did not find defensive solutions to Aharoni’s attack when they also scored from outside the arc with poor percentages, and it seems that the team will have to think about how they get out of the crisis they found themselves in, when in the next round they will try to surprise Hapoel Jerusalem. On the other hand, the cup holder will try to continue the momentum when they meet Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Bnei Herzliya scored: Maurice Kemp 17 pts, Sandy Cohen 16 pts, Chris Babb 13 pts, Quinton Hawker 12 pts and 9 assists, Andy Van Leet 12 pts, Julian Gamble 8 pts and Yair Kravitz 4 pts.
They scored a roll: London Frantz 16 pts, Chad Brown 14 pts, Justin Gorham 9 pts, Trey McLean 8 pts, Amit Ziss 7 pts, Peyton Willis 6 pts, Daniel Guetta 5 pts, Tsuf Ben Moshe 3 pt. and Miron Royna 2 pts.
First quarter 19:14 Bnei Herzliya
The Herzliya Quintet: Quinton Hawker, Yair Kravitz, Maurice Kemp, Chris Babb and Andy Van Leet.
Gilboa Galil quintet: London Frantz, Justin Gorham, Trey McLean, Amit Zees and Chad Brown.
The first ball went to Gilboa Galil, but McLean missed a three-pointer and from the other end Morris Kemp came forward quickly, drew a foul, scored once and gave the first points of the game to the host. The guest didn’t start well with three shots out of three when she misses all of them. Chris Babb also got involved and Herzliya started with a 0:7 run, but Frantz found Brown with a nice assist that stopped the host’s run, Brown led a reverse 0:7 run and brought Yezraeli’s team back into business, but Chris Babb with the first three-pointer of the game and Gamble With two points from the line, they returned the gap to six points and started another run of 0:6. Tsuf Ben Moshe entered the game with first points and a three that reduced the gap in the first quarter.
Second quarter 45:30 Bnei Herzliya
Gamble opened the second quarter with easy points in the paint, but Brown continued to be the hot man of the Northerners with his own points in the paint, Kravitz was able to grab the ball, go forward quickly and score two more points that gave Aharoni’s team a double-digit lead, but a good move by Justin Gorham cooled the enthusiasm of the hostess. Chris Babb restored the double-digit advantage with a penetration into the basket. When the northerners have no solution for penetration in the paint, Herzliya went on another run of 4:14 and opened a double-digit gap of 15 points at the end of the second quarter.
Third quarter 61:47 to Bnei Herzliya
Gilboa Galil opened the quarter with two points by Gorham, while on the other hand Van Leet was sent to the line and dunked twice. Sandy Cohen with two consecutive 3-pointers gave Oren Aharoni a record lead of 19 points. Brown continued to be the main scorer for the Northerners with two points and a foul. Aharoni’s apprentices managed to maintain the double digit gap with two more points from Kemp when Gilboa’s defense has no answers in the paint. The northerners went on a run of 0:8 and managed to reduce the gap to 12 points with a three-pointer by Guetta from the corner that brought the Yazraeli campers back into the game a little, but Hawker’s points closed the quarter with a 14 point difference for Herzliya.
Fourth quarter 82:70 for Bnei Herzliya
Yazraeli’s students continued the attempt to reduce the difference with two more points by Gorham, but Kravitz gave two quick points on the other side and left the gap safe when Sandy Cohen also added with a basket and a foul on the safe way to victory for the cup holder. Brown added more points, but Gilboa Galil’s defense continued to be soft in the paint as Shawn Velit added two more easy points. Fernandes added 4 consecutive points and started a 0:7 run that managed to reduce the gap to 13 with four minutes to go, but Van Vliet was able to stop the run of the northerners with more points in the paint. Chris Babb added three minutes to the end and ended Gilboa HaGil’s chance to try and come back.