Routs rule the day in basketball

Maccabi Tel Aviv dumped Ironi Ramat Gan by 50 points in what is quickly becoming one of the most lopsided weeks in BSL history.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
basketballs 88 (photo credit: )
basketballs 88
(photo credit: )
Maccabi Tel Aviv dumped Ironi Ramat Gan by 50 points in what is quickly becoming one of the most lopsided weeks in BSL history. Hapoel Galil Elyon-Golan defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 94-80 and Ironi Nahariya stopped Bnei Hasharon 95-79 in Sunday's other games, while Hapoel Jerusalem beat Ramat Hasharon 97-78 on Saturday night for an average margin of victory of 24.7 points. Maccabi Rishon and Maccabi Givat Shmuel meet in Matchday 17's final game on Monday night. A doubledigit win for either team would mark the first time all season that every game was decided by at least 10 points. When they met earlier in the year, Rishon edged Givat Shmuel 72-69. At Nokia Arena, Anthony Parker scored 19 to lead five players in double figures as a shorthanded Maccabi crushed Ramat Gan 108-58. Maccabi's total was the third-highest this season - the defending champs twice reached 110 - while the Ramat Gan effort was the third worst - Maccabi held Hapoel to 54 in last month's Tel Aviv derby and Bnei Hasharon managed just 57 against Nahariya in December. With a suspended Maceo Baston and an injured Tal Burstein looking on, Maccabi got 14 points from Will Solomon and 13 apiece from teenager Omri Casspi, Nikola Vujcic and Jamie Arnold. Casspi's total was a careerhigh. Tunji Awojobi led Ramat Gan with 14 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. At Kfar Blum, Galil outscored Tel Aviv by 21 points in the second quarter to put the game out of reach early in coach Oded Katash's return to the sidelines. Katash coached the team last season and started this year as the general manager before taking a leave. But after the team dropped six in a row, he answered the call to come back and save the team before it slipped into the relegation zone. Bryant Smith scored 17 to lead Galil, followed by Sasa Bratic's 16 and Uche Nsonwu's 15. Tel Aviv's Marcus Hatten led all scorers with 35. Alvin Young erupted for 31 against his old team as Nahariya bounced back nicely from back-to-back losses to Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Otis Hill added 13 and Jayson Wells posted a doubledouble of 12 points and 15 rebounds. Guy Pnini and Ugonna Onyekwe had 20 each in defeat.