Home team made amazing 7-0 run in the opening two minutes and took a 24-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
By SHARON SOLOMONashkelon , bball(photo credit: )
Givat Shmuel beat Elitzur Ashkelon 76-64 Monday night, securing their first victory of the season with an impressive team effort - and lots of help from the bench.
The home team made an amazing 7-0 run in the opening two minutes and took a 24-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to 11 points from swingman Ron Slay.
Ashkelon center Brandon Kurtz started the game very poorly and did not crash the boards as usual, enabling the hosts to collect many offensive rebounds.
Oded Shashua made some impressive hustle play in the second quarter to cut Givat Shmuel's lead and the score was 37-35 at halftime.
Givat Shmuel came out running in the second half. Tim Bowers, who won the NBDL title with the Asheville Altitude in the 04‚-05‚ season, was the catalyst and finished the game with 20 points.
Ron Slay got into foul trouble and was replaced by veteran guard Oren Aharoni, who responded with no less than five 3-pointers that put the game beyond the visitors reach.
Willy Jenkins had a horrible evening for Ashkelon and went pointless, after failing to connect from six field attempts.
Brian Tolbert added 16 points, while Kurtz scored 15.
Ashkelon coach Ariel Beit Halahmi knew his team didn't deserve the win, said after the game, "They were much better. We were very bad on offence and had no energy in our game."
