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Hapoel Afula vs Elitzur Ashkelon (Adir Levy)
The 13th round of the National League opened this evening (Monday) with a big drama between Hapoel Afula and Elizur Ashkelon, at the end the team from the capital of the valley won 76:79 with a three-pointer by Toralian Fitzpatrick about 8 seconds to the end. Thanks to the victory, Hapoel Afula will finish the first round at the top.
Hapoel Afula – Elizur Ashkelon 76:79
A tremendous game in the capital of the valley ends with a victory for the home team with a three-pointer on the buzzer-beater by Toralian Fitchpatrick. Thanks to the victory, Hapoel Afula will finish the first round at the top. Throughout the game we got a close fight between two quality teams, when in the first half the visitors dominated. At the start of the second half Hapoel Afula took the advantage and kept it, when at the end the southerners forced a tie but not beyond that.
After a balanced opening, the guest ran away with two triples and went up to 8:16. Roy Pearl’s team took a timeout, but the visitors finished the quarter with a 13:22 advantage. Dekrai Tucker and Vinir Benjamin opened the second quarter with 3-pointers on the way to 20:32. The locals responded with three three-pointers in a row and reduced the score to 37:35, 2 and a half minutes into the half. The Afulaites continued theirs and in this half 41:38 to the guests from Ashkelon.
At the start of the third quarter, Roi Natsia buried two 3-pointers and the advantage went to the host – 46:52. Two basket moves and a foul brought Avi Sukar’s team back into the game, but points in the color of the Afulaim plus a three-pointer from the corner by Turalian Fitchpatrick made it 55:63 after the third quarter. The last quarter opened with a 2:7 run by the Southerners, who did not know how to take advantage technically for Roy Pearl. Dakray Tucker buried an important three-pointer and with Gilinski’s points it’s only 69:71, 4 minutes to go. Shlomi Harush made a three-pointer with the board and 2 minutes to the end the board showed 72:72. The tie was kept and Fitchpatrick provided a huge block and on the other side buried a three-pointer 8 seconds to the end. Dakray Tucker tried to equalize but missed.
For Hapoel Afula: Jimmy Hall (5 assists) 21 points, Turalian Fitzpatrick (10 rebounds) 19 points, Lucas Goldenberg (11 rebounds) 13 points, Roi Netsia and Tomer Assig 8 points, Koren C ‘Verano 7 points’, Dor Inabi 3 points’.
For Elitzur Ashkelon: Dekrai Tucker and Thomas Gipson 15 pts, Clark Rosenberg 11 pts, Shlomi Harosh and Vinir Binyamin 10 pts, Gal Gilinski (11 assists) 8 pts, Shagib David 5 pts, Raviv Pitshon 2 No.
