Maccabi Trounces Rishon Le-Zion 96 – 85

By Amy Samin

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv broke its seven-game losing streak on Friday with a 96 – 85 victory over Ziv Erez’s Maccabi Rishon Le-Zion, in a practice game open only to the media, held on Maccabi’s home court, Nokia Arena.
Carlos Arroyo, Jason Williams, and D’Or Fischer were standouts, as were the energetic Israeli players, Lior Eliyahu and Omri Casspi.
Five Maccabi Electra players scored in double figures. For Rishon Le-Zion, Robert Conley scored an impressive 40 points.

Maccabi got off to a quick 8 – 2 lead at the start of the game, thanks to Carlos Arroyo and Tal Burstein, but Robert Conley scored five in a row for Rishon Le-Zion and trimmed that lead.
D’Or Fischer was stellar on defense, setting up a force field around the basket, and Jason Williams scored from the free throw line, bringing Maccabi’s lead to 15 – 7 halfway through the quarter.
Conley continued to be the only scorer for the visiting team, tying the score at 19 with two minutes to go in the quarter.
Arroyo, with a 3-pointer and a gorgeous assist to Omri Casspi, aborted Rishon Le-Zion’s comeback.
Then Gil Mossinzon scored from outside for Rishon Le-Zion to bring the score to 26 – 22, with Maccabi in the lead, at the end of the quarter.

The visitors got off to a good start early in the second quarter, but six straight points for Maccabi set the score at 32 – 27 after two minutes of play, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Lior Eliyahu and Esteban Batista under the basket.
Mossinzon, however, refused to allow the home team to break the game open, replying with a three-pointer after Eliyahu scored under the basket.
Conley was unstoppable, sinking a three-pointer to bring the score to 38 – 35 by the middle of the second quarter.
Williams made a huge block, and then followed it up with points off a beautiful assist by Tre Simmons.
Casspi scored from outside the arc, giving Maccabi a 45 – 39 lead with two minutes left in the half.
A nice lay-up by Williams brought the score to 47 – 42 at the half.

Fischer, with an assist in the paint and two from the line, brought the score to 51 – 44 one minute into the third quarter.
Conley scored two for Rishon Le-Zion, then a three-pointer by Arroyo followed by two points by Eliyahu from the free throw line, gave Maccabi its first double digit lead of the game.
Maccabi played aggressively, reaping several offensive rebounds, and a three-pointer by Casspi pushed the score up to 63 – 48, five minutes into the quarter.
Simmons scored a huge three-pointer, and Eliyahu made another fabulous lay-up off yet another assist by Arroyo, contributing to a 10 – 0 Maccabi scoring run, until the beleaguered visitors called a time-out with the score at 73 – 50.
With one minute left in the quarter, Rodney White entered the game and Mossinzon, the only player with his head in the game for the visitors, scored a basket and a free throw off a foul called on White.
At the end of the quarter, the score stood at 76 – 57 for Maccabi, laying the groundwork for the decisive fourth quarter.

A dunk by White gave both him and Maccabi their first points in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Rishon Le-Zion, led by James Hughes, started whittling away at the Maccabi lead, bringing the score to 78 – 63 a minute and a half into the quarter.
The visitors continued to nibble away at Maccabi’s lead, while the home team had some trouble getting points on the board.
Conley scored a big three point fade-away, bringing Maccabi’s lead back down to a single digit.
Maccabi also struggled a bit on offense, with Burstein missing a shot as the buzzer sounded on the 24 second shot clock, and Mossinzon blocking a shot by Williams.
With two minutes left in the game, the score stood at 87 – 79. A three-pointer by Arroyo gave Maccabi back their double digit lead.
Casspi scored on a dunk after a block by Fischer, and Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Maccabi Rishon Le-Zion 96 – 85.

Box Scores:

Maccabi:
Arroyo 21 points, 8 assists; Williams 17 points; Casspi 14 (6 for 6 from the field); Eliyahu 12 points; Fischer 12 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks; Batista 6 points; Simmons and Burstein 5 points each; White 4 points; Hagag 5 assists.
Derrick Sharp and Yaniv Green did not play.

Rishon Le-Zion:
Conley 40 points; Hughes 18 points; Mossinzon and Tutt 11 points each.

Maccabi Chairman of the Board Shimon Mizrahi said, “This was a practice game played according to the Russian Rule, and was not an ideal preparation for the upcoming game in Zagreb (Maccabi v. Cibona Zagreb on 23 October).
I think the players just need a bit more confidence, because they know basketball.”

Head Coach Efy Birenboim: “I don’t remember ever seeing so much media after a Friday afternoon practice game.
Games in the Israeli league are different from those in the Euroleague.
In our league, having tall players isn’t always an advantage; for this reason Rodney White didn’t play a lot today.
Part of our job is to learn to manage with those differences.
We’ll try to do that in the best way possible.”

Carlos Arroyo, Maccabi’s outstanding player of the game:
“I hope that today’s victory will give us confidence for the future.
A win is the biggest motivator, and we need that now.

We need to continue to work on and learn from our mistakes and losses.”

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