Basketball: Dominant performance for yellow-and-blue over Eilat

Maccabi, which was coming off a defeat to Ironi Nahariya, outscored Eilat 38-15 in the first 10 minutes and never looked back to improve to 7-3.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Trevor Mbakwe (left) dunks over Hapoel Eilat’s C.J. Leslie during last night’s 96-69 yellow-and-blue blowout in BSL action at Yad Eliyahu Arena (photo credit: DANNY MARON)
Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Trevor Mbakwe (left) dunks over Hapoel Eilat’s C.J. Leslie during last night’s 96-69 yellow-and-blue blowout in BSL action at Yad Eliyahu Arena
(photo credit: DANNY MARON)
Maccabi Tel Aviv gained a small measure of revenge for last season’s semifinal playoff exit against Hapoel Eilat with an emphatic 96-69 win at Yad Eliyahu Arena on Monday night.
Maccabi, which was coming off a defeat to Ironi Nahariya, outscored Eilat 38-15 in the first 10 minutes and never looked back to improve to 7-3.
Devin Smith had 19 points for Maccabi, which was able to rest its starters ahead of Thursday’s crucial Euroleague game against Brose Baskets Bamberg of Germany at Yad Eliyahu.
Maccabi, which has a 2-6 record in Europe, has to defeat Bamberg, hope that Darussafaka (4-4) loses as expected the following day at group leader CSKA Moscow (7-1) and then beat the Turks on the road in their final group game by at least 12 points to claim the tiebreaker after losing their first meeting of the season at Yad Eliyahu 84-73.
Alade Aminu had 13 points for Eilat, which fell to 3-7.
Maccabi Tel Aviv gained a small measure of revenge for last season’s semifinal playoff exit against Hapoel Eilat with an emphatic 96-69 win at Yad Eliyahu Arena on Monday night.
Maccabi, which was coming off a defeat to Ironi Nahariya, outscored Eilat 38-15 in the first 10 minutes and never looked back to improve to 7-3.
Devin Smith had 19 points for Maccabi, which was able to rest its starters ahead of Thursday’s crucial Euroleague game against Brose Baskets Bamberg of Germany at Yad Eliyahu.
Maccabi, which has a 2-6 record in Europe, has to defeat Bamberg, hope that Darussafaka (4-4) loses as expected the following day at group leader CSKA Moscow (7-1) and then beat the Turks on the road in their final group game by at least 12 points to claim the tiebreaker after losing their first meeting of the season at Yad Eliyahu 84-73.
Alade Aminu had 13 points for Eilat, which fell to 3-7.
Elsewhere Monday, Ironi Ness Ziona beat Ironi Nahariya 87-77.
Ness Ziona snapped a four-game losing streak, improving to 3-7 with coach Ofer Berkowitz’s first win since taking charge.
The teams were only separated by two points (63-61) entering the final 10 minutes, but Ness Ziona opened the fourth quarter with a 16-3 run to clinch the victory.
Diamon Simpson had 23 points and eight rebounds for Ness Ziona, with Richard Howell scoring 16 points for Nahariya, which fell to 6-4 a week after beating Maccabi Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, Maccabi Rishon Lezion (6-2) aims to keep pace with the league leaders when it hosts Maccabi Haifa (5-4). Rishon has won three of its past four contests, which were all decided by six points or less. Rishon is used to playing mid-week after entering the Europe Cup this season.
Sharon Drucker’s team has a one week break from the competition ahead of the start of the Round of 32 next week. Rishon will visit Novo Mesto of Slovenia in its first game before also facing ASVEL Basket Villeurbanne of France and Kataja of Finland in Group O.
The top two teams from each group will progress.
Haifa is coming off a painful overtime defeat to Hapoel Jerusalem on Friday.
Meanwhile, the BSL announced on Monday that upon further review Hapoel Jerusalem set a new record for assists in a game on Sunday, registering 37 assists in the 112-77 win over Maccabi Kiryat Gat.
Jerusalem broke Maccabi Tel Aviv’s record from 1999 by a single assist.