Mac TA overcomes early scare to trounce Ashkelon

A 14-0 first period run, capped by an Omar Sneed basket, opened a 15-point gap for Ashkelon and the visitors led 28-19 after 10 minutes.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv came back from a 15-point deficit to thrash Ironi Ashkelon 98-80 on Saturday night and improve its BSL record to 19-1.
Ashkelon opened a 25-10 lead after eight minutes at the Nokia Arena, but Maccabi had no intention of falling to a second league defeat of the season and was comfortably ahead by the break before cruising to another straightforward victory.
Alan Anderson scored 21 points, with Doron Perkins adding 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals for Maccabi, which visits Hapoel Jerusalem at Malha Arena on Thursday in its penultimate regular season game.
David Bluthenthal and Raviv Limonad had 15 and 14 points, respectively, for Tel Aviv, which guaranteed first place in the standings long ago.
Jimmy Baxter scored 22 points for Ashkelon, with Brooks Salescontributing 15 points and 10 rebounds for the southerners, who hadalready booked their place in th/e quarterfinal playoffs.
A 14-0 first period run, capped by an Omar Sneed basket, opened a15-point gap for Ashkelon and the visitors led 28-19 after 10 minutes.
However, Maccabi would storm back in the second quarter, outscoringAshkelon 33-16 on its way to an eight-point halftime lead (52-44).
The hosts needed three more second-half minutes to extend their marginto double-digits and from that stage on Tel Aviv sailed to another easyvictory.