Hapoel Holon came back from a 20-point second-half deficit on Saturday night to
defeat Maccabi Ashdod 107- 103 in overtime behind Jerome Dyson’s 40
points.
Ashdod held a 16-point gap (57-41) at the break and its lead
reached 20 points (61-41) early in the second half.
However, Holon
gradually ate away at the margin, with a Dyson free-throw forcing overtime
(98-98). The visitors scored all nine of their points in the extra period from
the line to clinch a second straight win after losing their previous seven
games.
Dyson hit 12-of-24 fieldgoals, including five threepointers, on
his way to becoming the first player to score 40 points or more in the BSL since
the 2006/07 season.
Sean Daniel added 17 points and eight rebounds for
Holon, which visits Paris Levallois in its EuroChallenge Last 16 Group J opener
on Tuesday.
Diamon Simpson had 34 points and seven boards for
Ashdod.
On Sunday, Hapoel Tel Aviv will look to snap a three-game losing
streak when it faces Hapoel Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv will host the showdown in
Ashdod after being sentenced to play the game away from its home arena in Rishon
Lezion due to the unruliness of its fans during an encounter against Maccabi
Ashdod last month.
Tel Aviv has lost five of its past six games to drop
to 5-7, but will be playing with new American guard Jermaine Taylor for the
first time on Sunday.
Erez Edelstein’s side beat Jerusalem 84-77 at Malha
Arena earlier this season, but captain Matan Naor is expecting a far tougher
challenge this time around.
“Jerusalem is a good team which has improved
with every game and gave Maccabi Tel Aviv a run for its money last week,” said
Naor.
Jerusalem led Maccabi by nine points late in the third quarter last
week before falling to a 79- 71 loss and dropping to 6-6.
Also Sunday,
Hapoel Eilat hosts Maccabi Rishon Lezion and Maccabi Haifa visits Hapoel
Gilboa/Galil.
On Monday, Maccabi Tel Aviv hosts Ironi Asheklon, while
Bnei Herzliya visits Barak Netanya.
Maccabi’s Ricky Hickman claimed
Euroleague Top 16, Game 3 MVP honors after amassing a performance index rating
of 34. Hickman scored 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter as Maccabi beat
Fenerbahce Ulker 91-73 at Nokia Arena. He missed only four shots, went 9-for-9
from the free throw line, adding five rebounds and five assists, while
committing just one turnover and drawing nine fouls.
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