By ALLON SINAIMaccabi Ashdod’s Ivan Aska (L) and Hapoel Jerusalem’s Tony Gaffney(photo credit: LIRON MOLDOVAN/BSL)
After a one-year break, the Israelis triumphed in the BSL All-Star game once more on Tuesday night, beating the foreigners 122-121, after a two-minute overtime in a grand opening to the new arena in Holon.Following three consecutive wins by the locals, the foreigners finally got the better of the Israeli roster last year. However, Tuesday’s tight defenseless affair was ultimately clinched by the Israelis, with Ironi Nahariya center Robert Rothbart being crowned as the MVP after finishing with 26 points and eight rebounds, a day after going for 25 points and 12 boards in his team’s BSL win over Hapoel Eilat.“I felt good today and the main thing is that we won,” said Rothbart, who is in the midst of a breakout season.Eilat’s Elishay Kadir added 17 points, while Josh Selby had 23 points for the foreigners, with both rosters playing without Maccabi Tel Aviv players, who flew out to Belgrade earlier in the day ahead of Thursday’s Euroleague contest against Red Star.Another Nahariya player also enjoyed success on Tuesday, with Mark Lyons beating Maccabi Ashdod’s Ivan Aska in the final of the dunk contest. Lyons only advanced to the final after Hapoel Holon’s Itay Segev injured his finger.However, Lyons won the competition with a perfect score of 40 points after having his coach Roei Hagay pass him the ball from the stands before completing a reverse dunk.“This is definitely one of the top moments in my career,” said Lyons.“I told him he should you use me but we didn’t even practice this,” added Hagay.The three-point contest was won by Holon’s Zack Rosen for a second straight year. Rosen had 19 points in the final, with Maccabi Haifa’s Hanan Colman finishing with 14 points.“I was slightly nervous at the beginning, but I’m happy I won again,” said Rosen.
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