Bnei Herzliya no rival for rampant Hapoel Jerusalem

By ALLON SINAI
Hapoel Jerusalem’s Yotam Halperin (photo credit: ODED KARNI/BSL)
Hapoel Jerusalem’s Yotam Halperin
(photo credit: ODED KARNI/BSL)
Hapoel Jerusalem continued to steamroll its BSL opponents on Sunday night, thrashing Bnei Herzliya 93-62 to improve to 6-0 on the season.
Jerusalem all but wrapped up the win by halftime, taking a 50-26 gap into the break. Danny Franco’s men closed to within one win of their best-ever start to a BSL campaign from the 1998/99 season and did so in emphatic fashion once more, taking their average margin of victory this season to 22.3 points per game.
It took Hapoel less than six minutes to open a 20-5 lead and the visitors never looked back, piling the misery on the sorry Herzliya for the remainder of the night.
Bracey Wright had 20 points for Hapoel, which registered 27 assists and outrebounded Herzliya 62-28.
Josh Selby led Herzliya (2-4) with 23 points.
Maccabi Haifa snapped its two-game losing streak and returned to .500 on Sunday after eking out a 98-96 win in triple overtime over Hapoel Gilboa/ Galil.
Alex Young missed opportunities to win the game for Gilboa at the end of regulation and the second overtime, with Haifa’s Tomer Bar-Even tying the score at the buzzer of the first extra period.
Gilboa’s Kyndall Dykes thought he had tied the score yet again at the end of the third overtime, but the ball left his hand fractions of a second after the buzzer and Haifa survived.
Jeff Allen paced Haifa (3-3) with 22 points and 17 rebounds while Ike Ofoegbu added 20 points and 11 boards. Jeremiah Wilson led five Gilboa (2-4) players in double figures with 18 points.
Ironi Ness Ziona continued its strong start to the season on Sunday, improving to 5-1 with a 68-65 victory over Hapoel Holon. Ness Ziona held the lead throughout the entire contest, but breathed a huge sigh of relief at the final buzzer after Holon’s Tony Crocker missed a three-pointer that could have sent the game to overtime.
Preston Knowles led Ness Ziona with 13 points, with new signing Dominic McGuire finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds for Holon, which fell to 3-3.
Ironi Nahariya (1-5) finally registered its first win of the season on Sunday, beating Maccabi Ashdod (1-5) 83-63. Mark Lyons had 17 points for Nahariya, which seized control after outscoring Ashdod 26-10 in the second quarter. Avi Ben-Shimol led Ashdod with 14 points.
On Monday, Maccabi Tel Aviv (4-1) hosts Hapoel Tel Aviv (2-3) and Maccabi Rishon Lezion (4-1) welcomes Hapoel Eilat (1-4).
Following the brawl and abandonment of last week’s soccer derby, police will be taking special measures on Monday. Over 130 policemen and 210 stewards will aim to keep the peace at Nokia Arena.
Maccabi has lost just six of 51 home derby encounters and will be especially desperate to claim another win over its arch-rival on Monday. The yellow- and-blue dropped last week to a 30-point defeat to Jerusalem, its heaviest- ever loss in local action, before suffering a shock 83-73 setback against Cedevita Zagreb in the Euroleague at Nokia Arena on Thursday.