Hap Eilat blows late lead, falls in OT to Mac TA

Maccabi Tel Aviv was made to sweat before extending its BSL winning streak to 14 games on Sunday night, coming back from a late seven-point deficit to defeat Hapoel Eilat 72-70 in overtime at Nokia Arena.

An Afik Nissim jumper gave Eilat a 62-55 margin with 2:22 to play, but Tel Aviv would score the final seven points of regulation and the game went into overtime after Ezequiel Skverer’s shot rimmed out at the buzzer.

Maccabi seemed to be surging ahead after David Logan opened the extra period with two consecutive threes (68-62).

Eilat closed back to within a single point thanks to a Darius Washington triple (70-69) with 41 seconds remaining, but it couldn’t complete the comeback and Tel Aviv held on by the skin of its teeth.

“It was a tough game,” said Devin Smith, who led Maccabi with 23 points and 10 rebounds. “We showed a lot of character and continued to fight the whole game.”

Logan ended the night with 16 points, while Washington and Nissim had 18 points each for Eilat, which dropped to its third defeat in four games.

“I’m disappointed because we should have won this game,” said Eilat coach Oded Katash. “We were in a good position, but made a couple of mistakes and they made some big plays.”

Hapoel Jerusalem won for the fourth time in five BSL games on Sunday, edging Hapoel Holon 83-82 at Malha Arena.

Jerusalem led by double-digits (49-38) at the break, but allowed Holon back into the game, with Jerome Dyson’s four-point play cutting the deficit to a single point (83-82) with 23 seconds to play.

The hosts would then turn the ball over at the other end, but Holon’s Eliav Moisheashvili missed an open three-pointer as time expired and Jerusalem survived.

Josh Duncan led five Jerusalem players in double figures with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Dyson had 25 points and 11 assists for Holon and Frank Hassell added 22 points and 13 boards.

Maccabi Rishon Lezion snapped Maccabi Ashdod’s three-game winning streak on Sunday with an emphatic 100- 80 win on the road.

The visitors had just a twopoint edge (52-50) after a tight first half, but blew the game open with a 15-2 run (73-57) from which Ashdod never threatened to come back.

Adrian Uter had 19 points and 15 rebounds for Rishon, with Willie Warren adding 19 points and 10 assists. Rishon had three players with a double- double, with Julian Wright finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks, while Jamie Skeen and Mardy Collins scored 21 and 20 points, respectively, for Ashdod.

Bnei Herzliya returned to winning ways on Sunday, beating the sorry Ironi Ashkelon 103-95.

After losing its previous five games by an average 19.4 points, Ashkelon gave Herzliya a real run for its money on Sunday, but the hosts pulled ahead in the final frame to improve to 8-9.

Romel Beck led six Herzliya players in double digits with 25 points, with Jumaine Jones notching 11 points and 18 boards.

Jarvis Hayes and Julien Mills accounted for 61 of Ashkelon’s points, with the former netting 33 and the latter scoring 28, as well as grabbing 11 rebounds.

New signing Brian Randle is set to make his debut for Hapoel Tel Aviv when it hosts Hapoel Gilboa/Galil on Monday, while Maccabi Haifa visits Barak Netanya.