Mac TA blows out Hasharon to kick off busy week

Maccabi Tel Aviv enjoyed an easy evening in Herzliya, thrashing Bnei Hasharon 113-73 to improve to 9-1 in the BSL.

By ALLON SINAI
MACCABI TEL AVIV forward Richard Hendrix 311 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
MACCABI TEL AVIV forward Richard Hendrix 311
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Maccabi Tel Aviv enjoyed an easy evening in Herzliya on Sunday, thrashing Bnei Hasharon 113-73 to improve to 9-1 in the BSL.
Despite its excellent record, Maccabi has not had it all its own way in local league play this season, with four of its wins so far coming by five points or less.
However, after a tight first quarter in Herzliya, Maccabi opened a 12-point margin (48-36) by the break and ran riot in the second half, scoring 38 points in the third period to clinch the win.
Shawn James had 22 points and nine rebounds for Maccabi, with his brother Delroy scoring 18 and grabbing 11 boards for Bnei Hasharon, which also got 24 points from Tweety Carter.
Richard Hendrix added 20 points and 12 rebounds for Tel Aviv, which travels to Serbia on Monday for Adriatic League games against KK Radnicki on Tuesday and KK Hemofarm on Thursday.
Four more BSL games will be played on Monday, with Hapoel Jerusalem visiting BC Habika’a, Hapoel Gilboa/Galil hosting Maccabi Ashdod, Maccabi Rishon Lezion welcoming Maccabi Haifa and Ironi Ashkelon facing Barak Netanya.
In other basketball news, Israel coach Arik Shivek looks set to continue with the national team for two more years after meeting with Israel Basketball Association chairman Shay Shani on Sunday.
Shivek was told that the IBA is pleased with his work, and barring any unexpected developments, he will try and lead the blue-and-white to an 11th straight appearance in the European basketball Championships in the coming summer.
Israel, which ended last summer’s EuroBasket tournament in the first group stage with a 2-3 record, will come up against Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Estonia and Iceland in qualifying Group A, with the top two teams and the four best third-placed teams from the six qualifying groups to advance to the finals.