Without Lorenzo Brown and Wade Baldwin, who were rested, Maccabi Tel Aviv traveled to Eilat this evening (Sunday), where they met the local team for a game in the fifth round of the Winner Basket League. The yellows did not display high ability, but they did not struggle and defeated the team of Ariel Beit Lahemi 74:96, on the way to a perfect balance of 0:4 in the local arena. The locals will look for victory elsewhere and continue to struggle at the bottom.
First quarter: 13:24 for Maccabi
The Hapoel Eilat quintet: Jared Terrell, Amit Gershon, Nathaniel Artzi, Noam Avivi and Eric Griffin.
Maccabi Tel Aviv Quintet: Yeftah Ziv, Jaylen Adams, Rafi Manko, Alex Poithers and Josh Niebo.
The first ball belonged to the yellows and right at the start Yeftah Ziv found Josh Nibo for a quick dunk. Nathaniel Artzi buried a three-pointer on the other side and added a basket from half distance on the way to a local 4:7. Jaylen Adams penetrated the basket easily and Ziv’s big three handed the advantage to the guests – 7:9. The center was Maccabi’s man in the first minutes and was accurate twice from the line on the way to an 0:8 run, which was stopped with another basket by Artzi.
Alex Poythers went up for a dunk on an offensive rebound. Maccabi was quite sloppy in its game and the second five got stuck in the attack, but the southerners did not take advantage of this to get closer and Darren Hilliard with a three-pointer established a double-digit lead of 10:20. Roman Sorkin got on the board with four consecutive points, but the last word was Ido Harel, who cut off a 9:0 run and shrunk to24:13 At the end of the quarter.
Second quarter: 37:50 for Maccabi
John DiBartholomew scored the first points in the quarter, Hilliard found Bonzie Colson for a nice basket and on the other side Griffin was the only one who managed to do something offensively and completed five consecutive points on the way to 28:18. Both teams lost a lot, Adams got fed up and went to the ring, on the other side Artzi continued to score points. Jared Terrell hit a 3-pointer and sent Oded Ketch to call a timeout when the difference was reduced by double digits to 32:23.
Niebo scored after an offensive rebound, Terrell warmed up with another 3-pointer. Adams forced Eilat to lose the 13th ball and set up Rafi Manko for an easy layup on the way to 26:38. Ziv squeezed the offense into three shots at the end of the clock, he hit all of them, but on the other side he saw Artzi take over the game with three consecutive three-pointers. Jake Cohen returned one of his own and free kicks by Adams gave the Yellows a lead 37:50 on break
Third quarter: 57:79 to Maccabi
Griffin scored the first points in the second half from the line, while Cohen laid down a layup after a nice move. Poithers controlled the paint with another basket and a foul after an offensive rebound and another basket by Hilliard made it 39:57 and the yellows started to run away. Amit Gershon got on the board for the first time when he buried a three-pointer from a mile, DiBartolomeu returned with a shot from the corner. Cohen established a 20-point lead, six and a half minutes to the end of the quarter.
Eric Griffin continued to do his thing with a basket and foul in a burst, Poithers continued to control the paint and put up two more points. Maccabi kept missing and losing and finally Nate Grimes scored the first points and shrunk to 64:47. Cohen and Griffin exchanged threes, the Tel Aviv center was great and completed a nice move with an easy layup. The last few minutes of the third quarter featured very low level basketball from both sides.
Guy Pennini found Roman Sorkin under the basket and the center put an end to the mess with a simple layup. Harel lost and Nivo flew for a dunk in a burst, Terrell was unable to score due to a situation and on the other side Nivo again completed a pass attack and the teams went to a timeout with 52:75 yellow. Adams scored on a penetration, Grimes responded from outside the arc. Sorkin scored great in the paint and set up 57:79 Maccabi for the decisive quarter.
Fourth quarter: 74:96 for Maccabi
Jaylen Adams scored with a beautiful penetration, Guy Panini buried a three-pointer after a wonderful ball movement and the difference grew to 57:88. Oded Ketch went to the depth of the bench and brought up Tomer Agmon for the first minutes of the game, Jared Terrell Dyke from the line and interrupted a 0:10 yellow run on the way to 89:59. Rafi Manko scored under the basket, Noam Avivi responded with a three-pointer and also got on the board for the first time.
Manko buried a three-pointer from the corner, Artzi returned with one of his own. Ho’el Eilat tried to minimize some damage with points from Yonathan Levy and Nathanel Artzi, Tomer Agmon shook off the guard and scored the first points in the Winner Basket League from half distance. Until the end, the yellows did not manage to cross the 100-point mark, but went down satisfied with 74:96 Kalil that brought them to a 0:4 balance in the local league.