Green’s shot at the buzzer lifts Gilboa/Galil

Holon falls victim to late heroics, losing 93-91; Mac TA destroys Netanya by 48 points.

By ALLON SINAI
Richard Hendrix 311 (photo credit: AP)
Richard Hendrix 311
(photo credit: AP)
After an erratic start to the season, Hapoel Gilboa/Galil is beginning to find its way, beating Hapoel Holon 93-91 on Sunday night thanks to Rodney Green’s buzzer-beating basket.
The reigning champion had lost two straight league games, but claimed an impressive 92-83 victory at Cedevita Zagreb in its Eurocup opener last Tuesday before coming back from 19-points down to defeat a resilient Holon.
Gilboa trailed 64-45 five minutes into the second half, only to score 48 points in the final 15 minutes of the game and snatch the win after Green’s late heroics.
“I just wanted to make sure we got the last shot of the game,” said Green, who led Gilboa with 22 points and eight assists.
“My ankle was killing me before the game, but we fought for the win.”
Jack McClinton and Warren Carter added 16 and 15 points, respectively, for Gilboa, which hosts Aris Thessaloniki in its second Eurocup game on Tuesday.
Robert Hite scored 21 points for Holon, with Rich Melzer adding 20 and Moran Rot contributing 19 points and 10 assists.
Meanwhile, Maccabi Tel Aviv claimed its third victory in a week at the Nokia Arena, cruising to a 117-69 win over Barak Netanya ahead of its biggest home encounter so far this season against Caja Laboral Vitoria on Thursday.
Maccabi, which improved to 6-0 this season, has won its league games by an average 28.7 points.
“When you play with intensity, whatever the game and whatever the score it becomes a habit,” Maccabi coach David Blatt said.
Netanya never looked like a team which believed it had any chance of winning and Tel Aviv moved into a 27-19 advantage after 10 minutes.
An 11-2 Maccabi run to start the second quarter ended Netanya’s pathetic resistance and the hosts sailed to another embarrassingly easy win in the remainder of the game.
Lior Eliyahu led six Maccabi players in double-figures, scoring 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Tal Burstein scored 17 points, with Jeremy Pargo adding 16 points and nine assists for Tel Aviv, which continued its hot streak from beyond the arc, scoring 16 of 25 three-point attempts.
Romeo Travis had 18 points for Netanya.
Also Sunday, Ironi Ashkelon recorded an important road victory, beating Maccabi Rishon Lezion 83-73.
Ashkelon led 21-18 after the first quarter and led by double-digits for most of the second period, taking a 48-36 gap into the break.
The visitors remained in complete control in the second half, improving to 2-4 on the season.
Desmon Farmer had 20 points for the winners, with Dwayne Mitchell scoring 15 points and taking 13 rebounds for Rishon Lezion.
Bnei Hasharon hosts Maccabi Ashdod on Monday.
In Holon, a tight first period ended with the hosts leading 24-21, and a Hite three-pointer midway through the second quarter opened a ninepoint margin (41-32).
Gilboa cut the gap slightly until the break (48-43), but Holon would surge ahead at the start of the second half, going on a 16-2 run, capped by a Arnold basket, to open a 64-45 lead.
The hosts were still ahead by double- figures (73-62) with 10 minutes to play, but the game was far from over, with Gilboa cutting into the gap as the encounter drew to a close.
Anton Kazarnovski’s accurate freethrows with less than a minute to play tied the score at 89-89, and after Melzer missed at one end, Green gave the visitors their first lead since the first period at the other.
Arnold kept the locals in the game with a basket with 8.3 seconds remaining, but Gilboa would have the final laugh, with Green hitting a buzzer-beating shot off the glass to secure a dramatic win.