Mac TA stays perfect in Adriatic ahead of BSL slate

Maccabi sweated its way to a 70-66 victory in Euroleague action, but it outscored Partizan 28-14 in the first quarter on Saturday and cruised.

By ALLON SINAI
Jordan Farmar311 (photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv website)
Jordan Farmar311
(photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv website)
Two days after struggling to a Euroleague win over Partizan Belgrade, Maccabi Tel Aviv easily beat the Serbian champion 78-67 at the Nokia Arena on Saturday night to improve to 5-0 in the Adriatic League.
Maccabi sweated its way to a 70-66 victory in Euroleague action on Thursday, but it outscored Partizan 28-14 in the first quarter on Saturday and cruised in the remainder of the game.
Jordan Farmar scored 14 points and passed seven assists for Maccabi, which hit 25 of 35 attempts from two-point range.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Devin Smith added 12 points each, while Nikola Pekovic had 23 points for Belgrade.
Maccabi will play its third straight home game on Monday when it hosts Barak Netanya in BSL action.
On Sunday, Hapoel Jerusalem will look to get its season back on track when it welcomes Ironi Ashkelon to Malha Arena.
Jerusalem was embarrassed by Hapoel Gilboa/Galil in an 89-68 defeat last week and coach Oded Katash is hoping for a significant improvement against Ashkelon on Sunday.
“We will certainly want to correct the impression we left in the defeat at Gilboa,” Katash said. “We are expecting a difficult game against an excellent team which will be coming to Malha in very good form. It is important for us to begin the game well and make as few mistakes as possible so that we can get off to a fast start.”
Gilboa will be hoping to build on last week’s win when it visits Maccabi Haifa on Sunday, but it might have to do so without Courtney Fells.
The 25-year-old American was held by police for several hours on Saturday morning after allegedly refusing to undergo an alcohol test and assaulting a policeman when his car was pulled over following a night out at Kibbutz Yagur.
Also Sunday, Maccabi Rishon Lezion hosts BC Habika’a and J.J. Hickson will make his debut for Bnei Hasharon when it visits Hapoel Holon.