Maccabi Tel Aviv took the Israeli Classico with a 112-105 overtime victory over Hapoel Jerusalem as Roman Sorkin starred down the stretch to hand the yellow-and-blue the win at the Pais Arena in the capital.
The Reds took control of the game from the outset as Justin Smith and Jared Harper filled the basket early while Lonnie Walker and Oshae Brissett countered for Maccabi to snatch a slim 53-52 lead at the half.
Brissett kept finding points as did Jimmy Clark in the second half, but Harper kept hitting his shots from the outside to take a lead late in the game. However, Sorkin’s first field goal of the matchup took the game into overtime, where he scored from deep, while Clark also put in points to close out the win.
Along with the win came some concerning news: Lonnie Walker dislocated his finger in overtime and will be out for 2-3 weeks.
Walker scored 25 points, Brissett added 22 points, and Clark put in 19 points for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the win, while Harper scored 26 points and Smith scored 23 points for Jerusalem in the loss.
Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Oded Katash reflected on the win.
“I’m very happy that we won one of these types of games. You saw some great plays by great players with a tremendous amount of quality from both sides. There is also a bit of luck involved as well. There were plenty of matchups also in this game, but in overtime, we went with more pick-and-roll, where Roman Sorkin was able to make an impact. This was an excellent game played at a very high level in a great competitive league.”
Yonatan Alon: Austin Wiley, Yovel Zoosman ‘excellent’ players
Hapoel Jerusalem bench boss Yonatan Alon looked back at the loss.
“The end of the game was decided by some terrific individual plays, and that’s how games go sometimes in overtime. We are missing Austin Wiley, who is an excellent player, and also Yovel Zoosman, so it’s hard to judge Jerusalem as is with the team that we are playing with now. I hope that we can get to the playoffs with home court advantage despite the recent losses.”
Clark also commented on Tel Aviv’s win.
“It was a game of runs, and there were some things that we had to clean up, but it was good for the guys to get through some adversity and take the win.”
Meanwhile, Ness Ziona downed Hapoel HaEmek 80-70 as stifling second-half defense, along with timely offense, helped the hosts take the win at the Lev HaMoshava Arena.
The first half saw Sharon Avrahami’s team control the pace of play with points from Roey Netzia and Cameron Henry. However, in the second half, it was all Paul Corsaro’s team as Spencer Weisz, Itay Moskovits, Bryce Brown, and Desi Rodriguez turned the tables on both ends of the floor to snatch the victory.
Brown scored 15 points, Weisz added 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Moskovitz put in 13 points in the victory. Rafi Menco scored 18 points, Henry chipped in with 14 points, and Niv Misgav scored 11 points in the loss.
In another action, Maccabi Ramat Gan defeated Hapoel Galil Elyon 82-71 as Terrell Brown and Wesley Harris paced the visitors to the road win.
Brown scored 23 points, and Harris added 16 points in the victory, while Raz Adam scored 15 points for Galil Elyon in the loss.
Maccabi Rishon Lezion got by Hapoel Holon 68-62 as Amin Stevens starred for the wine city squad to help outlast the Purples, who played with a six-man rotation.
Stevens scored 22 points as Gabe Devo and DJ Burns each scored 11 points in the win. Adama Sanogo scored 15 points, and Kevion Taylor put in 14 points for Holon in the loss.
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Source:
www.jpost.com
