Young Arad Harari played his first game for Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv as they cruised to an easy 101 – 66 win over B.C. Habikaa in Game 2 of the Israeli Lotto League quarterfinal playoffs. Maccabi now leads the best of five series 2 – 0. Blu and Langford scored 14 points each.
By Amy Samin
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv cruised to an easy 101 – 66 win over B.C. Habikaa in Game 2 of the Israeli Lotto League quarterfinal playoffs; Maccabi now leads the best of five series 2 – 0. Two of Maccabi’s players from the youth team – Idan Zalmanson and Arad Harari – played in the game, with the latter making his big league debut. David Blu and Keith Langford each scored 14 points, Guy Pnini added 13 points and 5 assists, and Lior Eliyahu, Devin Smith and Yogev Ohayon (7 assists) each scored 12 points.
Maccabi’s starters were Richard Hendrix, Devin Smith, Lior Eliyahu, Yogev Ohayon and Keith Langford. The early minutes of the first quarter were close, with Maccabi scoring and hosts Habikaa tying the score; after three and a half minutes it was 9 – 9. Langford sank a three from the top of the arc (assist Eliyahu) and Eliyahu scored to give Maccabi a five point lead. Points by Smith and Ohayon were followed by a catch and shoot by David Blu from downtown to make it 22 – 11 with just under four minutes left in the period. In the next two and a half minutes Blu would add a fadeaway from the right corner and a third trey from the top of the arc to put Maccabi up 30 – 13 with just under a minute and a half left. Langford’s stop and pop deuce ended the quarter with Maccabi leading 33 – 17.
The second quarter opened with points by team captain Tal Burstein, and while the pace was a bit slower than in the previous period Maccabi had extended their lead to 46 – 22 within six minutes, including points from a steal + coast to coast dunk and a three pointer by Smith. Maccabi continued to dominate the game with dunks and blocks (James), steals (James and Ohayon) and fastbreak layups, while allowing Habikaa only 10 points in the quarter, and the teams went into halftime with the score 58 – 27.
The pace was even slower for Maccabi in the third quarter, though back to back threes by Smith and Blu kept things interesting, 64 – 29 after just over a minute. Langford continued to play full out, diving for the ball and fighting for layups. Halfway through the period the score was 73 – 36. Guy Pnini’s three pointer with three and a half left in the quarter and a putback dunk and 1 by James in the final seconds wrapped up the period with the score 79 – 46.
Pnini remained hot in the fourth quarter, scoring 8 points (including two three pointers, one from beyond downtown) in the first half of the period while a layup by Hendrix put Maccabi’s lead at forty, 93 – 53 with just under five minutes left. Maccabi’s young players Idan Zalmanson and Arad Harari came into the game, with the former contributing four points and the latter two as Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv cruised to an easy 101 – 66 victory over B.C. Habikaa in Game 2 of the Israeli League quarterfinals. Game 3 will take place at Nokia Arena on Thursday night.
BOXSCORE
Maccabi: Blu 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist; Langford 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists; Pnini 13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal; Smith 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist, 1 block; Eliyahu 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block; Ohayon 12 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals; James 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks; Burstein 5 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal; Zalmanson 4 points, 2 rebounds; Hendrix 2 points, 5 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists; Harari 2 points.
Top scorers for Habikaa: Dowell 17 points; Gillenwater 14 points.
