By Amy Samin

Maccabi opened the game with Andrew Wisniewski, Chuck Eidson, Raviv Limonad, Guy Pnini and D’or Fischer, while hosts Nahariya started with Steven Smith, Lamarr Greer, Paul Delaney, Or Eytan and Daniel Guy Arie.

The game started out at a crawl, with Nahariya taking the lead early on until a three pointer from Eidson put Maccabi within one, 6 – 5 after two and a half minutes.
A steal plus layup by Wiz tied the score at 9, then Stephane Lasme gave Maccabi the lead 11 – 9 with a drive into the paint with three and a half minutes left in the quarter.
That was the start of a 15 – 0 run by Maccabi with most of those points coming from Wisniewski and David Bluthenthal; the lack of points on the other side was thanks largely to Lasme.
The period ended with Maccabi leading 22 – 9.

Alan Anderson opened in the second quarter, but Maccabi seemed to have put on the brakes, allowing the home team to narrow the gap to 24 – 13 after a minute and a half.
Doron Perkins and Fish came back on court and together with Anderson opened up the lead again, 31 – 17 after three and a half minutes in the quarter.
Points from outside the arc by Pnini put Maccabi up by sixteen, 34 – 18, but Nahariya was able to come back to within ten.
Once again it was Pnini from downtown who opened the lead up with less than two minutes on the clock, 37 – 24.
Two from the line and a putback by Lasme rounded out the period, and the teams went into halftime with Maccabi leading 41 – 27.

Within the first two minutes of the second half, Pnini and Eidson had provided a duet of three pointers to put Maccabi’s lead at 47 – 31.
Nahariya was unable to stop Lasme and Limonad as they gave a demonstration on how to drive to the basket, and Maccabi’s lead swelled to twenty, 54 – 34.
Maccabi’s 12 – 0 run was rounded off with an alley oop by Pnini to Lasme and a three pointer by Wiz; the score was 59 – 34 near the halfway mark in the period.
Maccabi increased their lead to thirty at one point, but Eytan and Peleg for Nahariya fought to keep their team in the game, narrowing the gap to 69 – 45 with less then two minutes remaining.
Maccabi team captain Derrick Sharp came into the game for Limonad and nailed a three with one minute on the clock, and a long two by Wisniewski at the buzzer closed out the quarter with the score 77 – 50.

Wisniewski kicked off the fourth quarter of the game with four straight points, to which Sharp added two straight buckets from outside the arc, putting Maccabi up 87 – 60 after three minutes of play.
Nahariya’s heart just wasn’t in the game at that point, especially with Fish blocking every shot in sight and Sharp and Wiz nipping the ball out of the home team’s hands at every opportunity.
Sharp had time to dump in another three pointer, while Bluthenthal contributed a three, a layup, a free throw and a dunk to finish off the game.
Final score: Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv 106, Irony Nahariya 70.

Box Scores

Maccabi: Bluthenthal 21 points; Wisniewski 20 points; Sharp and Pnini 12 points each; Limonad 11 points; Lasme 11 points, 6 rebounds; Eidson 9 points, 6 rebounds; Perkins 4 points; Fischer 3 points; 11 rebounds; Anderson 3 points.

Nahariya: Smith 16 points; Delaney and Greer 15 points each; Eytan 10 points; Peleg and Shaashoua 5 points each; Segev 4 points.

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