The Yellow & Blue lose their second domestic league of the season. Wilbekin scored 20 points, Hunter added 13 and 7 rebounds
Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv took the loss Sunday evening to Hapoel Jerusalem 87:98 as part of the 21st Israeli league fixture. The Yellow & Blue suffered their second local defeat of the season, holding a 2 game advantage over the second-place Reds. Scottie Wilbekin led all Maccabi scorers with 20 points. Next Game: Thursday against Bakonia in the EuroLeague.
Maccabi began the game with Scottie Wilbekin, Yovel Zoosman, Elijah Bryant, Jake Cohen, and Othello Hunter in the starting five. Both teams opened the game on fire offensively, knocking in the first five shots, 12:7 Maccabi. Shelvin Mack and James Feldine hit shots from deep, and Tashawn Thomas’s bucket tied it up at 17 apiece midway through the first quarter. The red hot Wilbekin scored his 8th point of the period to put the visitors up on top, Zoosman added a three of his own, but Mack and J’Covan Brown kept the hosts in it, 22:22. Suleiman Braimoh came off the bench and hit two three-pointers (7th three of the period for Jerusalem) that gave the Reds a 6 point lead. Jerusalem continued to knock in shots from deep opening a double-digit advantage, 27:39 after 10 minutes.
Hunter ended a 16:2 Jerusalem run with a slam and a fadeaway shot, as Bryant hit two from the free-throw line that cut the lead back to twelve, 32:44. Brown took control, scoring 10 of the hosts last 17 points, as Quincy Acy knocked in a corner three to end the first half, 41:61.
Hunter and Deni Avdija hit the first points of the third period, and Elijah Bryant notched a shot from deep to reduce the deficit down to 15, 48:63. However, Timor and Mack found Thomas for a pair of alley-oop slams that increased the host’s advantage midway through the third, 50:72. Cohen and Amar’e Stoudemire scored from inside the paint, as Braimoh knocked in a pair of free throws, 60:82 heading into the final quarter.
Braimoh added on to the lead, as Wilbekin and Acy scored from deep to help Maccabi cut the lead to 71:90. Avdija hit one of two from the line adding a fastbreak dunk that brought the visitors within 11, but Mack knocked in two from the charity strike. Jerusalem beat Maccabi 87:98.
