Israeli League, Regular Season, Game 5: November 25-26, 2007 - ISRAEL

May 21, 2013

Israeli League, Regular Season, Game 5: November 25-26, 2007

Perennial champion Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv stayed perfect in the Israeli League with a road win at Gilboa/Afula, while Hapoel Galil Elyon earned its first league win with a 10-point triumph against Ashkelon over the weekend. Yotam Halperin scored 18 to pace Maccabi in an 81-100 win as the team improved to 4-0. Galil outlasted Ashkelon 100-90 thanks to Clif Brown, who had 15 of his 33 points in the last quarter and Gili Mosinzon, who scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem also returned to its winning ways by topping Rishon Lezion. Jamie Arnold followed up his ULEB Cup Week 3 MVP performance with 28 to lead Jerusalem. In other action around the league, Ironi Nahariya beat Ironi Ramat Gan 81-99 as Sasa Ocokoljic and Ashante Johnson combined for 45 points and Meir Tapiro scored 25 and Cookie Belcher 24 as Bnei Hasharon defeated Hapoel Holon 93-90.

Maccabi didn't need to waste much energy in its 81-100 road win at Gilboa/Afula. The home team scored the first bucket of the game on the way to an early 11-6 lead, but Lior Eliyahu led a 4-10 run that put Maccabi on top. Jermaine Hall gave the hosts the lead once again, but that's where the drama finished. Yotam Halperin and Derrick Sharp scored 12 points in a row for Maccabi, which finished the first quarter with a 17-28 lead. Marcus Fizer left the court due to an injury in the second quarter, but Maccabi didn't let up. Esteban Batista kept Maccabi with a double-digit lead entering the halftime break at 34-46. Alex Garcia came off the bench with some nice third-quarter moves, including a long-range jumper that sealed the quarter and set the difference at 57-74. The final quarter didn't bring a big change on either end of the court. Halperin led Maccabi with 18 points, David Bluthenthal added 14, Eliyahu and Batista scored 11 each, while Omri Casspi had 10. Hall led the losing side with 20 points, while Chanan Coleman scored 14.

Jerusalem kept its home record perfect and climbed to a 3-2 record with a 92-84 win over Rishon Lezion. The visitors held a small lead in the starting minutes before Hapoel made a 7-0 run, enough to slide to a 21-19 lead after 10 minutes. Jaime Arnold was on fire and couldn't miss throughout the first half, but Rishon had Juan Mendez and Bryant Markson at the other end to make it 42-42 at halftime. Guy Pniny joined Arnold on the offensive end and with big plays by Marcus Slaughter, Hapoel made a 14-2 run in the closing minutes of the third to take a 75-56 lead, and Arnold made it a 20-point game closing the quarter, 79-59. That's when Hapoel fell asleep, and Jerel Blassingame woke up. He pushed Rishon back in the game, and his three-pointer made it 86-80 with less than three minutes to play. Rishon managed to cut 2 more points from the difference, but Slaughter and Arnold from the line and Timmy Bowers with a three-pointer secured the win. Arnold led Hapoel with 28 points, Bowers added 20, Pniny 19, Slaughter 13 and 10 rebounds, while Anthony Roberson, in his debut with the club, scored 3 points in 10 minutes.

After its debut win this season last Tuesday in the ULEB Cup, Galil Elyon scored its first victory also in the Israeli League after beating Ironi Ashkelon at home 100-90. The visitors took an early lead, but saw the hosts make a 7-0 run to take over the game. Yariv Yatzkan nailed a three-pointer to set the first quarter score on 23-25 for Ashkelon, but Or Eitan was at the other end to nail a long-range shot of his own and make it 38-37 halfway through the second. The teams continued to go head-to-head and right before the halftime buzzer Cory Carr nailed a three to make it 48-48. Clif Brown went to the rim time after time, but Ashkelon had an answer after every play. Wayne Wallace gave Ashkelon the lead again before Galil used another 7-0 run to go up 90-84. Brown saw Carr make it a 3-point game again, but took control over the game. With a big play, he doubled the lead again, and grabbed the rebound at the other end to secure Galil's first league win. Brown had 33 points, including 15 in the last quarter, while Gili Mosinzon scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, in addition to 15 points by Eitan and 12 by Mike Campbell. Carr led Ashkelon with 22 points, Yatzkan scored 17 and Wallace had 15.

LAST GAME GAME 5 November 25-26, 2007
Day	Match	Result
Nov. 25	Galil Elion vs. Ashkelon	100-90
Nov. 25	Ramat Gan vs. Naharya	81-99
Nov. 25	Hapoel Migdal vs. Rishon L.	92-84
Nov. 25	Gilboa vs. Maccabi Elite	80-101
Nov. 26	Hasharon vs. Hapoel Holon	93-90

NEXT GAME GAME 6 December 2-3, 2007
Day	Match
Dec. 2	Eldan Ashkelon vs. Holon
Dec. 2	Rishon Lezion vs. Gilboa
Dec. 2	Hapoel Jer. vs. Naharya
Dec. 2	Galil Elion vs. Ramat Gan
Dec. 2	Hasharon vs. Maccabi Elite

	STANDINGS	TG	W	L	P+	P-
1	Irony Iscar Naharya	5	4	1	466	413
2	Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv	4	4	0	390	332
3	Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem	5	3	2	357	347
4	Bnei Hasharon	5	3	2	412	401
5	Eldan Ashkelon	5	2	3	427	452
6	Rishon Lezion	5	1	4	419	437
7	Irony Ramat Gan	4	2	2	338	349
8	Altshuler Saham Galil Elion	5	1	4	444	497
9	Hapoel Gilboa/Afula	4	1	3	323	356
10	Hapoel Holon	4	2	2	295	287