Mekel leads Mac Tel Aviv back to winning ways

The 27-year-old guard, back at his boyhood club six years after asking to leave the team for Hapoel Gilboa/Galil due to limited playing time, had 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.

By ALLON SINAI
Israel guard Gal Mekel (photo credit: ADI AVISHAI)
Israel guard Gal Mekel
(photo credit: ADI AVISHAI)
Gal Mekel made an impressive return to Maccabi Tel Aviv on Saturday night, finishing three rebounds shy of a triple-double in an 86-63 BSL win over Ironi Ness Ziona.
The 27-year-old guard, back at his boyhood club six years after asking to leave the team for Hapoel Gilboa/Galil due to limited playing time, had 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in 30 minutes on court.
Mekel was signed by Maccabi two weeks ago, but had to wait until Saturday to make his debut after his previous club Red Star Belgrade refused to sign his release form due to a financial disagreement.
Maccabi was desperate for the win on Saturday after losing its past two BSL games and made easy work of Ness Ziona, leading by 13 points (27-14) after one period and by 30 (54-24) at the break.
Sylven Landesberg had 21 points for Maccabi, which will have to manage without Brian Randle for three weeks due to a thigh injury.
Maccabi’s roster will continue to evolve over the coming weeks, with the yellow-and-blue signing Elijah Millsap, for - merly of the Utah Jazz, over the weekend, while releasing Arinze Onuaku.
Fuquan Edwin scored 17 points for Ness Ziona, which fell to 6-11.
Jerusalem will look to reestablish a two-game gap over Maccabi at the top of the standings when it hosts Maccabi Haifa on Sunday. Hapoel, which will be aiming to avenge its defeat to Haifa in the State Cup round of 16, dropped to 0-3 in the Eurocup Last 32 last week, but has won nine of its past 10 BSL games.
Also Sunday, Maccabi Rishon Lezion (9-7), which has lost four straight league games but in the meantime has reached the cup semifinals and improved to 3-1 in the Europe Cup round of 16, hosts Hapoel Holon (4-12), which has lost seven of eight contests.
On Monday, Hapoel Eilat welcomes Maccabi Kiryat Gat and Maccabi Ashdod visits Hapoel Tel Aviv.