Still photo photography: Yael Harel Photography
The 11th round of the national league opened tonight (Tuesday) with a great victory of Elitzur Ashkelon over Hapoel Galil Elyon and the Southerners continue to be unbeaten since the start of the season. In the valley’s capital, the local team lost to Modiin after a display of Lace Dunn and Storm Warren who played last year in Afula. Kiryat Ata defeated Raanana without much difficulty and Maccabi Ashdod defeated Acre / Mate Asher.
Elitzur Ashkelon – Hapoel Galil Elyon 78:86
Paul Delaney and Jonathan Fairle opened the game great and the board showed a 15:12 advantage to the visitors. Ben Altit scored points in color and returned the advantage to his team, but Anthony Fisher with a big three on the buzzer set 26:24 for the Reds after the first quarter. Barak Peleg’s team widened the gap in the second quarter after a three by DJ Sharp, but Paul Delaney was there again and brought it down to 35:31. At half time 47:39 to the Upper Galilee. Alonzo Coleman and Clark Rosenberg bit into the advantage of the Northerners, but Alon Sapir and Gabi Chachashvili kept the advantage of Hapoel Galil Elyon.
Paul Delaney cut the visiting defense time and time again and the third quarter ended with a minimal advantage for the Upper Galilee 65:64. Carmel Buchman found Idan Paz for a three in the opening of the last quarter and the Southerners took the lead. Even two timeouts by Barak Peleg did not stop the Ashkelon Momatanum and Dudu Shmariz scored a three from the corner – 70:80, and the local team promised a victory.
Increased to Ashkelon: Paul Delaney (9 assists) 17 points, Ben Altit 15 points, Alonzo Coleman 14 points, Clark Rosenberg 12 points. Increased to Upper Galilee: Alon Sapir (10 rebounds, 7 assists) 15 points, Jonathan Fairle 13 points, Anthony Fischer and Omer Tal 11 points each.
Hapoel Afula – Hapoel Hevel Modiin 105: 85
Lace Dunn and Storm Warren returned to Afula and inflicted a home loss on the team from the valley capital. Nati Cohen had to do without the shoulder-injured Ariel Navon and managed a record game for the foreign pair when Dan finished with 23 points and Warren with 26. Guy Dotan was great with an impressive game management and Hevel Modiin recovered from the loss to Maccabi Ashdod. On the other hand, Hapoel Afula did not manage to leverage the victory over Maccabi Urban Raj from last week and absorbed 105 points, allowing its opponent to score 62 percent for two.
After a good opening by Hevel Modiin, Tomer Cohen stitched a three and set 12:13 for the locals. Luckily for Smith Jr. he scored 10 points in the first quarter that ended at 22:25 for his team. Good actions by Guy Dotan passed the lead to the visitors at the start of the second quarter – 30:27. The latter sniped a three, but Jimmy Hall set up a 33:33 tie. Muriel Lotati closed the first half with a three on the buzzer that set 46:48. Even the last three did not prevent the guest from continuing her controlled game. Guy Dotan controlled the pace and with the foreign duo, Warren and Dunn, and the great opponent Amiram the board showed 74:67. In the last quarter there was only one team on the floor – Storm Warren managed to stop Jimmy Hall on 15 points, and Hapoel Afula failed to stop the momentum of the visitors on the way to a loss.
Many to Afula: Lenzel Smith 23 points, Jimmy Hall 15 points, Tomer Cohen 14 points, Goni Yizraeli (10 assists) 10 points. Many to Modiin: Storm Warren (10/14 for 2) 26 points, Lace Dun 23 points, Yariv Amiram (16 rebounds) 22 points, Guy Dotan (6 assists) 17 points.
Maccabi Ashdod – Hapoel Acre / Mate Asher 78:87
An important victory for Ashdod, which met the newcomer with one foreigner, but with a lot of willpower and character in the last quarter. Ofer Rahimi’s team cruised for three quarters and seemed to be on the way to an easy victory. In the last quarter Acre / Mate which woke up and narrowed the gap to only 5 points, but not beyond that. The visitors left 10 points on the penalty line, while Maccabi Ashdod scored 56 percent for two.
Many to Ashdod: Billy McShpard 25 points, Durand Scott 17 points, Noam Laish 11 points. Increased to Acre / Asher: Tim Williams (11 rebounds) 23 points, Liran Moran 21 points, Daniel Najer 13 points.
Kiryat Ata Urban – Raanana Urban 67:84
The host came to tonight’s game with only 8 staff players, but that did not stop her from running over Raanana. From the start, the local team played a great defensive game and took advantage of the team’s narrow defense from Pnina Hasharon. Ofer Berkowitz’s team scored only 30 percent for two points.
The visitors from Sharon started the game with two threes by Austin Price, while on the other hand Kiryat Ata went inside and it paid off for them when they led 10:18. Ofer Berkowitz called a timeout and her team came back with a 9: 2 run and closed the quarter with a lag of 19:20. Yahel Melamed scored a 3-pointer at the start of the second quarter, but Raanana’s soft color allowed Kiryat Ata to increase the gap to 22:31. Many of the visitors’ loss of the ball gave the locals a half advantage – 32:45. Sharon Avrahami’s team widened its gap with the opening of the third quarter as it took every opportunity to run – 38:57. The host maintained its gap and finished the third quarter with a 48:68 advantage.
Many for Kiryat Ata: Marilyn Will 19 points, Julian Boyd (11 rebounds) 17 points, Muhammad Abu Arisha and Uriel Lev (8 assists, 6 rebounds) 15 points each. Many for Raanana: James Fudget 17 points, Ofek Malka and Rom Cornelius 9 points each.