This time, Mac TA handles Hasharon with great ease

Yellow-and-blue get revenge in rout.

By ALLON SINAI
Sofo 311 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Sofo 311
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Maccabi Tel Aviv avenged its one and only BSL defeat of the season in emphatic fashion on Sunday night, humbling Bnei Hasharon 113-67 in Herzliya.
Bnei Hasharon handed Tel Aviv a 91-88 loss at Nokia Arena two months ago, but it was blown out from the start of Sunday’s game, eventually falling to one of the most embarrassing defeats in its history.
“This was bad,” Bnei Hasharon coach Dan Shamir said. “I apologize to anyone who watched the game. These kinds of things happen in basketball, but there is no excuse for our play. We started poorly and it only got worse.”
Maccabi entered the game after thrashing Lottomatica Roma by 41 points in the Euroleague on Thursday, and there was little doubt another rout was in the cards in Herzliya after the yellow-and-blue began the encounter with a 20-3 run.
“I’m happy to see that we are back to being an aggressive and relentless team,” said Maccabi coach David Blatt, whose side hosts Olimpija Ljubljana in the Euroleague on Thursday.
“You can’t say Bnei Hasharon is a weak team, because they beat us earlier in the season. We took that defeat to heart and everyone gave their all tonight, which can be seen in the score-line.”
Sofoklis Schortsanitis had 22 points in 18 minutes for Maccabi, which also got 18 points from Doron Perkins and 15 from Lior Eliyahu.
Dan Grunfeld scored 11 points for Bnei Hasharon, which allowed Maccabi to shoot a blistering 71 percent (36 of 51) from two-point range.
Meanwhile, Maccabi Haifa won for just the second time in 13 BSL games, beating Maccabi Ashdod 95-81.
Marco Killingsworth and Jermaine Jackson had 20 points each for Haifa, with Ramel Bradley scoring 19 for Ashdod, which has lost four of five games.
Also Sunday, Hapoel Gilboa/Galil beat Barak Netanya 72-66 on the road.
Jack McClinton and Warren Carter scored 13 points each for the winners, with Romeo Travis netting 21 for the hosts.
Ironi Ashkelon hosts Hapoel Holon on Monday.
In Herzliya, Maccabi looked intent to make the hosts regret they ever won at Nokia.
Tel Aviv opened the game with an 11-0 run, capped by a Jeremy Pargo three-pointer, and that was just the start.
A Doron Perkins triple extended the gap to 20 points (25-5) midway through the first period and the game was all but won after just 10 minutes, with Maccabi leading 34-14.
Tel Aviv continued to pile the misery on Bnei Hasharon in the second period, opening a 63-30 margin by the break.
Maccabi didn’t let up and continued to pour salt on Bnei Hasharon’s wounds in the second half, crushing the poor hosts.