Israelis trounce foreigners in festive All-Star

Tapiro leads locals to easy win ; Gilbert Brown wins dunk exhibition, Swann triumphs in three-point contest.

By ALLON SINAI
Ironi Nahariya forward Gilbert Brown won the slam dunk contest during Friday’s BSL All-Star festivities in Eilat. (photo credit: ODED KARNI/BSL)
Ironi Nahariya forward Gilbert Brown won the slam dunk contest during Friday’s BSL All-Star festivities in Eilat.
(photo credit: ODED KARNI/BSL)
The Israelis continued their dominance in the BSL All-Star game on Friday, beating the foreigners 143-118 in Eilat for their fifth win in the past six years.
Veteran guard Meir Tapiro was named as the MVP, three days before his 41st birthday.
The Ironi Kiryat Gat guard had nine points and seven assists, with Elishay Kadir leading the Israelis with 21 points and nine rebounds. The foreigners were led by Maccabi Ashdod forward Diante Garrett’s 18 points.
Garrett also took part in the dunk contest, which was won by Ironi Nahariya’s Gilbert Brown. The forward beat John Williamson in the final, with Israeli Karam Mashour from Bnei Herzliya also participating.
Isaiah Swann from Maccabi Ashdod claimed the threepoint crown, beating Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Guy Pnini 16-14 in the final. Pnini finished with 22 points in the opening round, but couldn’t repeat the performance in the final.
BSL action will already resume on Sunday when Maccabi Rishon Lezion hosts Hapoel Holon.
Rishon approached Holon on Thursday requesting to postpone the game due to its participation in the Europe Cup. Rishon visits Skyliners Frankfurt in the third and decisive game of their best-of-three quarterfinal series after handing the Germans their first loss in the competition this year with an 88-84 overtime win in Israel last Wednesday.
Rishon said Holon had initially agreed to move the game to a later date, but following its ultimate refusal to do so it will have to use a makeshift lineup, with Chris Wright out injured and Kevin Palmer, Mark Lyons and Darryl Monroe all doubts for the game. “In our opinion this game won’t have any real sporting value,” read a Rishon press release.
Holon said it would have been happy to help Rishon, but was unable to do so with the latter only making its request three days prior to the game.
Frankfurt will play two games before facing Rishon again, on Saturday and Monday.
In BSL action on Monday, Maccabi Tel Aviv looks to bounce back from its loss to Hapoel Jerusalem when it hosts Maccabi Ashdod, while Jerusalem can take another step towards securing the No. 1 seed in the playoffs when it visits third place Maccabi Haifa.
Jerusalem announced on Friday that it has released Israel national team center D’or Fischer after he asked to leave the club due to personal reasons.
Hapoel signed center Eli Holman earlier this month and he is set to be handed a bigger role following Fischer’s departure.
The 34-year-old Fischer arrived at Jerusalem with high expectations after playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 2008 and 2010. However, he never really settled at the club, averaging 8.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 19 BSL games and not even featuring in last week’s showdown with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Jerusalem is considering bolstering its roster by bringing back Jake Cohen. The Israeli forward signed a three-year deal with Hapoel during the summer before being loaned out to Aris Thessaloniki for the season.