Sofo saves Maccabi Tel Aviv with late surge in Netanya

Maccabi held a 10-point lead (26-16) after 10 minutes, but the hosts never lost touch, trailing by just six points (46-40) at the break.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi's Sofoklis Schortsanitis (R) and Yogev Ohayon (L) 37 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Maccabi's Sofoklis Schortsanitis (R) and Yogev Ohayon (L) 37
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
A fourth-quarter run, led by Greek center Sofoklis Schortsanitis, ensured Maccabi Tel Aviv avoided another humbling BSL loss on Monday night, with the yellow-and-blue edging Barak Netanya 77-67 on the road to improve to a 7-4 record.
After its erratic start to the season, Maccabi finally moved three games over .500 on Monday, holding off a spirited Netanya effort to record a second straight league win for just the second time in 2013/14.
Maccabi held a 10-point lead (26-16) after 10 minutes, but the hosts never lost touch, trailing by just six points (46-40) at the break.
A Dolev Drapic basket early in the fourth quarter gave Netanya its first lead (61-60) since it scored the first two points of the night, but Sofo would account for the next eight points of the game to put Maccabi in front for good.
David Blu led Tel Aviv with 21 points, with Sofo finishing with 19 points and Yogev Ohayon contributing 15 points and 11 assists.
Dawan Robinson had 26 points for Netanya (4-7).
Two more BSL games will be held later this week. Hapoel Holon will host Hapoel Tel Aviv in a game deferred from week 4 on Thursday evening, with Hapoel Jerusalem to visit Maccabi Haifa at Romema Arena on Friday afternoon in a showdown postponed from Sunday due to the stormy weather in the capital.