Landesberg leads Maccabi TA to victory over Eilat

Maccabi makes it 3 wins in 5 days ahead of flight to Russia for Thursday’s Euroleague game against CSKA Moscow.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Sylven Landesberg (photo credit: ADI AVISHAI)
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Sylven Landesberg
(photo credit: ADI AVISHAI)
A dominant third quarter was enough for Maccabi Tel Aviv to defeat Hapoel Eilat 80-72 on the road on Monday night and improve to 3-0 in the BSL.
Maccabi trailed by 12 points at the break (43-31), but outscored Eilat 27-6 in the third period, with Sylven Landesberg almost single-handily giving the yellow-and-blue the lead.
Landesberg netted the first 11 points of the first half, outscoring the hosts 11-0 on his own, before a Brian Randle basket gave Maccabi a lead (44-43) it would extend to nine points by the end of the third period (58-49).
Eilat cut the deficit to four points in the final minute (74-70), but could come no closer and Maccabi made it three wins in five days ahead of its flight to Russia for Thursday’s Euroleague game against CSKA Moscow.
Landesberg led Maccabi with 16 points, 14 of them in the third quarter, with Guy Pnini contributing 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Khalif Wyatt had 16 points for Eilat, which dropped to 1-2, with Sean Evans adding 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Ironi Ness Ziona improved to 2-1 on Monday, edging Maccabi Ashdod 82-81 thanks to a Gil Amitay free throw with 10 seconds to play.
Ness Ziona looked to be cruising at the break after opening a 14-point gap (44- 30), and led by as many as 20 points (57-37) midway through the third period.
However, Ashdod closed to within eight points (64-56) by the end of the third frame and moved into the lead late in the game, only for the hosts to eke out the win in the final minute.
Craig Smith had 18 points and five rebounds for Ness Ziona, with Ivan Aska finishing with 20 points and eight rebounds for the 0-3 Ashdod.
Also Monday, Hapoel Gilboa/ Galil (2-1) beat Ironi Nahariya (0-3) 79-77. Young Israeli Rafi Menco was excellent for the winners once more with 12 points, while Mark Lyons scored 18 points for Nahariya.