Local Hoops: Galil hands Haifa first league loss

"We had the game in our hands, but we made every mistake possible and when you do that you don't deserve to win," Haifa coach Avi Ashkenazi said.

By ALLON SINAI
katash 88 (photo credit: )
katash 88
(photo credit: )
Hapoel Galil Elyon/Golan handed Maccabi Haifa its first loss of the season on Saturday, winning 88-83 after overtime in Gan Ner. Haifa, which thrashed its opponents by an average of 21 points in its first three BSL games of the campaign, seemed to have taken control of the encounter in the fourth quarter. However it squandered a lead in the final minutes and crashed to a defeat against Oded Katash's determined men. "We had the game in our hands, but we made every mistake possible and when you do that you don't deserve to win," Haifa coach Avi Ashkenazi said. Brian Roberts led Galil (3-1), scoring 21 points, with Brian Randle adding 17 points. Doron Perkins scored 23 points for Haifa (3-1), which also got 19 points from BJ McKie. A tight first quarter ended with a Gal Mekel three-pointer, which brought the hosts within a point (18-17), and the encounter remained close throughout the second period as well. A Roberts basket gave Galil a 39-37 advantage at the break, but a 10-2 Maccabi run to start the second half put the visitors in a dominant position. Perkins's three-point move with four minutes to play in the third quarter opened a 47-41 lead and Haifa had an eight point cushion (55-47) a minute later after three more points by Brooks Sales. Galil never lost hope, however, with Randle scoring the final four points of the period to bring the hosts within one point (55-54) with 10 minutes to play. Three more points by the American center at the start of the fourth quarter gave Galil a 57-55 lead. But Perkins answered back with four straight points to give Haifa a slender margin once more. The American guard then opened a 71-66 gap with a basket and foul, and the visitors looked comfortable. Haifa, however, would struggle on offense in the last couple minutes and would throw away its lead. A three-point move by Roberts with 28.2 seconds to play tied the score at 73-73 and the game went into overtime after Perkins missed at the buzzer. The teams traded baskets for the first half of the overtime, but the hosts were the more composed in the decisive moments. An acrobatic Roberts basket with a minute to play opened a 85-81 gap and an unsportsmanlike foul by Moshe Mizrahi in Galil's next possession clinched the victory for the hosts.