Herzliya hands Mac TA first defeat of BSL campaign

The yellow-and-blue almost erased a 20-point deficit against Herzliya, but ultimately failed to complete a comeback.

By ALLON SINAI
Bnei Herzliya forward Karam Mashour (photo credit: ADI AVISHAI)
Bnei Herzliya forward Karam Mashour
(photo credit: ADI AVISHAI)
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s mediocre play finally caught up with in BSL action on Saturday night, losing 84-82 at Bnei Herzliya for its first defeat of the season in local league action.
Maccabi fell to 2-4 in the Euroleague with a loss to Panathinaikos in Athens on Thursday, but entered Saturday’s game with a 5-0 record in the BSL after surviving some scares.
The yellow-and-blue almost erased a 20-point deficit against Herzliya, but ultimately failed to complete a comeback, with Sonny Weems missing a chance to send the game to overtime in Maccabi’s final possession.
Tel Aviv has little time to recover, hosting one of the Euroleague’s favorites in Fenerbahce Istanbul on Tuesday before facing Unics Kazan in Russia 48 hours later.
Jeff Adrien had 20 points for Herzliya, which improved to 3-3 with the win.
Taurean Green added 18 points, with young Israeli forward Karam Mashour registering her third straight double-double with 16 points and 17 rebounds.
“Maccabi is a great team,” said Mashour after helping Herzliya to its first win over Maccabi following 17 straight defeats in the BSL stretching back to November 2010. “I’m really happy because this was a superb team effort. I hope we have made a statement with this win. We will celebrate tonight and get back to work.”
Andrew Goudelock and D.J. Seeley finished with 13 points each for Maccabi.
“We started the game really poorly and it is a shame we didn’t begin the game with the same effort we showed in our comeback,” said Maccabi coach Rami Hadar.
Also Saturday, Ironi Nahariya snapped a five-game losing streak over all competitions, beating reigning champion Maccabi Rishon Lezion 76-72 in a showdown between Israel’s two representatives in the FIBA Champions League.
Jonathan Skjoldebrand scored 17 points for Nahariya, which improved to 2-4.
Gilbert Brown and Yancy Gates added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Javon McCrea had 24 points and 14 rebounds for Rishon, which fell to 3-3.
On Sunday, Hapoel Jerusalem visits Maccabi Ashdod.
On Monday, Hapoel Gilboa/Galil hosts Hapoel Eilat, Maccabi Haifa goes to Hapoel Holon and Maccabi Kiryat Gat welcomes Hapoel Tel Aviv.