Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv Loses to Gilboa/Galil 79 - 77

By Amy Samin

The host team from the North took a surprising 4 - 0 point lead early in the game.
Maccabi players were unable to sink any of their shots until the third minute of the quarter, when Carlos Arroyo scored and brought that lead down to 4 – 2.
Maccabi seemed to have recovered from their slow start when they took the lead a few minutes later, but a turnover and 3 three point shots by Gilboa/Galil changed that, and the score stood at 18 – 10 with three minutes left in the quarter.
After a time out, Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim tried to change the game’s momentum by putting team captain Derrick Sharp and Lior Eliyahu into the game, but the quarter ended with Gilboa/Galil leading, 25 – 14.

Maccabi showed considerable improvement at the start of the second quarter.
They played smart on defense, and D’Or Fischer and Omri Casspi in particular showed renewed energy under the basket.
When Maccabi enjoyed a 7 – 0 scoring run, they brought Gilboa/Galil’s lead down to 25 – 21 four minutes into the quarter.
Then, out of nowhere, Gilboa/Galil’s Brian Randle led his team to a safe 30 – 21 lead.
Fischer and Casspi fought hard, and were able to close the gap a little, but Maccabi’s defense couldn’t stop the Israeli players of Gilboa/Galil, who continued to find the easy baskets; the host team’s lead grew to 37 – 29 with a minute and a half left in the half.
An offensive play by Brian Roberts and Aaron Nixon, ending with a three pointer at the buzzer, gave the hosts their biggest lead of the game yet, 43 – 31 at the end of the half.

As with the second quarter, Maccabi opened strong in the third quarter and closed Gilboa/Galil’s lead to 44 – 39 after four minutes.
But once again the tide turned, and spotty defense, fouls and short tempers on Maccabi’s part saw the host team’s lead grow to 52 – 42 with three minutes left in the quarter.
Things did not go well for Maccabi and even Arroyo, who was a standout player for Maccabi in the game, began to lose his way.
A three pointer by Arroyo was answered by one by Dagan Yavzuri, and the third quarter ended with a score of 59 – 47.

A three point shot by Roberts at the start of the fourth quarter gave the host team their biggest lead yet, 62 – 48.
A technical foul by Fischer (his fifth foul of the game) not only took the Maccabi center out of the game, but gave Gilboa/Galil two bonus shots at the free throw line.
The game continued at about the same pace, with the host team finding their three point shots as needed, and it looked like Maccabi wouldn’t be able to put themselves back in the game.
Five minutes into the final quarter, a three pointer by Yavzuri brought the score to 70 – 54.
With the end of the game in sight, and Dror Hagag in for Arroyo, Maccabi refused to concede the game.
Three pointers by
Sharp and by Hagag brought the score to 73 – 67 with only two minutes left in the game.
Hagag made a turnover, and then redeemed himself by scoring on the next offensive play, and Maccabi chopped the lead down to only 4 points.
But an amazing three pointer by Nixon took the score up to 76 – 71, with only 45 seconds remaining on the clock.
After an offensive rebound, Sharp missed from outside, and Maccabi resorted to fouling in order to stop the clock and try to win the game.
The tactic didn’t work, and the game ended in a Gilboa/Galil victory, 79 – 77.

Scores:

For Maccabi: Arroyo 15 points, Hagag 9 points, Eliyahu and Williams 8 points each, Fischer 7 points, 7 rebounds, Casspi, Sharp and Batista 6 points each, Simmons and Burstein 5 points each, Green 2 points.

For Gilboa/Galil: Roberts 24 points, Izraeli 15 points, Nixon 14 points, Yavzuri 8 points.

After the game, head coach Efy Birenboim had this to say, “I have a lot to say, but explanations don’t mean a thing right now.
The most important thing is for us to find ourselves as a team, as quickly as possible.
Everyone who was on the court saw that the most important things are heart and soul; those who gave them brought us back into the game.
We have a lot of work ahead of us.
This has been far from an ideal beginning for Maccabi.
We must rise above this, there’s no choice.
We’ve played at the highest levels in Europe; tonight we played against a team that is on a lower level.
I talked to the players about this, that Gilboa is a team we must beat.
Maccabi’s situation right now is not the greatest.
We need to get ourselves together.
I have no choice but to always be optimistic.”

Gilboa/Galil head coach Oded Katash said, “We played well tonight, as opposed to the way we played in our first game against Maccabi.
We played aggressively, and we knew what we wanted to do.
We had a problem on defense at the beginning of the game, but luckily for us Maccabi missed a lot of shots.
Our defense is what won the game for us; in each of the first three quarters they scored only 14 – 16 points.
They’re a tough team to play against, but in the end we had a good game and it’s a good start and a good sign for us for the coming games of the season.
I don’t get too excited about Maccabi’s losses; Maccabi will be a good team, even a very good one.
They will be a more dominant team in our league this year than they were last year.
Signing Arroyo was a good move on their part.
They have many new players, and it will take them time.”

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