Gilboa/Galil stays red-hot by beating Holon in Game 1

Hapoel Gilboa/Galil defeated Hapoel Holon 77-59 in Gan Ner on Wednesday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five quarterfinal series.

By ALLON SINAI
Hapoel Gilboa Galil 311 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Hapoel Gilboa Galil 311
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Hapoel Gilboa/Galil began the BSL playoffs where it left off in the regular season, beating Hapoel Holon 77-59 in Gan Ner on Wednesday night to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five quarterfinal series.
Gilboa won six of its last seven regular season games, including a victory over Holon in its final encounter of the campaign, and is currently playing the best basketball in the league apart from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Holon gave Gilboa a run for its money for three quarters, but the hosts pulled ahead in the final 10 minutes and will be confident of taking a 2-0 lead on the road next Thursday before hosting Game 3 a week later.
Dagan Yavzuri led Gilboa with 19 points, with Gal Mekel adding 14, Ido Kuzikaro scoring 11 and Warren Carter contributing 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Rich Melzer had 22 points for Holon, which has lost seven of its last eight BSL games.
Two more quarterfinal playoff series will get underway on Thursday, with Bnei Hasharon welcoming Maccabi Rishon Lezion and Hapoel Jerusalem hosting Maccabi Ashdod at Malha Arena.
The relegation playoffs also start on Thursday, with Maccabi Haifa facing Ironi Ashkelon.
The loser of the Haifa and Ashkelon series is supposed to be relegated to the National League, but both will be hoping that the BSL decides to increase the number of the teams in the league for next season and give both a place in the top-flight for another year.
At Gilboa, a 12-1 run gave the hosts an early seven-point margin (20-13), but Holon closed to within one point (20-19) by the end of the first quarter and trailed by two points (37-35) at the break.
However, Gilboa increased its advantage to eight points (55-47) by the end of the third frame and scored 13 of the first 17 points of the fourth period to open an unassailable gap and claim a convincing victory.