Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Galil Elyon 102 – 85 in a practice game at Nokia Arena on Sunday night. Simmons with 17, and Fizer with 16, were Maccabi’s top scorers.
By Amy Samin
With four days to go until the game against Olympiacos, Maccabi got a good workout and a victory Sunday night in their practice game against Oded Katash’s Galil Elyon.
Marcus Fizer, who not long ago returned to play for Maccabi following a knee injury last season, was outstanding with 16 points and 5 rebounds.
Once again head coach Pini Gershon put Tre Simmons in the starting five, along with Carlos Arroyo, Marcus Brown, Yaniv Green and D’or Fischer.
Katash’s starting lineup included Brian Roberts, Elishay Kadir, Guni Israeli, Aloysius Anagonye, and Brian Randle.
Unlike in regular season games, the so-called Russian Rule – which requires teams to have two Israeli citizens on the court at all times – was not in effect.
Two minutes into the first quarter, a three-pointer by Simmons put Maccabi in the lead, 7 – 4.
Yaniv Green, who continued the excellent play he displayed in
In spite of a nice offensive play by Maccabi that included an alley-oop from Simmons to Fischer, Galil took their first lead of the game off a basket plus foul for Randle.
Marcus Fizer came into the game for Green, while Gal Mekel joined Israeli and company, getting the ball to Randle for some easy points.
Israeli scored two three-pointers, while Arroyo got off some assists at the other end, and the score stood at 24 – 20 in favor of Galil with forty seconds remaining in the period.
Arroyo scored from the free throw line to bring the score to 26 – 24, Galil, at the end of the quarter.
Maccabi took back the lead in the second quarter off a shot from outside the arc by Fizer (10 points in the first half) and points by Fischer; after a minute and a half the score was 31 – 27, Maccabi.
A three-pointer by Tal Burstein brought Maccabi’s lead to 7 and capped off a 10 – 1 scoring run for the home team, causing Katash to call a time-out.
Galil came out of the huddle to score a 7 – 0 run of their own, thanks especially to Mekel and Roberts, and taking back the lead 37 – 36.
Maccabi then took over, going on a 10 – 0 run this time, thanks in large part to the excellent Fizer, and retaking the lead 46 – 37 with three minutes left in the half.
Maccabi then proceeded to take charge of the court, and Galil couldn’t stand up to Gershon’s zone defense.
Baskets by Brown and Green took Maccabi to their biggest lead yet, 56 – 40 with 30 seconds remaining.
Simmons scored at the buzzer to take the score to 58 – 40 at the half.
The only change in Maccabi’s starting lineup in the second half was Fizer instead of Fischer.
A great assist by Fizer to Brown slowed Galil a bit, and two minutes into the third quarter the score stood at 60 – 45.
Maccabi didn’t look too good at the start of the third quarter, and Kadir with four straight points narrowed Maccabi’s lead to 62 – 52.
Fizer scored some key points and put Maccabi back up by 12 before heading to the bench.
A three-pointer put Maccabi back up to a comfortable lead, 67 – 52.
Marcus Brown pulled down several key rebounds, and fed the ball to Simmons and Burstein, giving Maccabi their biggest lead of the game yet, 74 – 55 with three minutes left in the quarter.
Three buckets from outside the arc by Yavzuri kept Galil in the game in spite of their double digit deficit, but Katash’s strategy put Maccabi on the free throw line four times, taking the score up to 81 – 60 at the end of the quarter.
Maccabi turned over the ball five times in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, and Randle scored five straight points for Galil to close the gap a bit, 83 – 67 three and a half minutes into the period.
Fizer and Omri Casspi put Maccabi back up by 20, 87 – 67.
But Galil weren’t ready to quit; a great assist by Mekel and a three-pointer by Roberts helped, then another three-pointer by Yavzuri brought the score to 91 – 77.
Galil kept raining three-pointers on the home team; Yavzuri’s fifth, plus another by Roberts whittled their deficit to 95 – 83, but two assists by Arroyo to Casspi and Green denied Galil their comeback.
Simmons put the finishing touch on the game with another three-pointer and Maccabi won, 102 – 85.
Box Scores
Maccabi: Simmons 17 points (5 three-pointers); Brown 16 points, 6 rebounds; Fizer 16 points, 5 rebounds; Casspi 12 points; Arroyo 12 points, 7 assists; Green 11 points, 5 rebounds; Fischer and Burstein 8 points each; Hagag 2 points.
Galil: Roberts 19 points, 6 assists; Randle 18 points, 6 rebounds; Yavzuri 15 points (5 three-pointers); Anagonye 10 points; Israeli 9 points, 5 assists; Mekel 7 points, 5 assists; Kadir 5 points; Tischer 2 points.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Tre Simmons, who revealed the secret of his success.
“I get there early, work hard, and prove to the coach what I can do.
He gives me an opportunity, and I prove myself worthy.
The new coaches are looking for players who can lead the team, and thank God I’m one of them.
The Euroleague game will be completely different (from this one); I hope to be in the starting five for that game, too.”
“We played well tonight, and I hope we’ll continue to improve,” added Marcus Fizer.
“Olympiacos’ aggressiveness doesn’t scare me or Maccabi.
We’ll try to match their level.
Nokia is our home court, and we’ll have to play our game.
It’s great to play with the guys; obviously I’d rather be doing what I can to help the team instead of sitting on the sidelines and watching them play without me.”
