A difficult evening in front of 2,500 spectators in the beautiful hall in Nahariya. The hosts led 14-3, Maccabi closed to 19-15 but at end of the first quarter Nahariya led 29-19. Three consecutive 3 pointers by David Bluthenthal made it 31-28 for the locals but Arthur Lee (23 pts in the first half) swept Nahariya to a record 19 pts lead (52-33). At the half they led 55-43.
In the third we saw a different Maccabi, mainly in defence. Lior Lubin stopped Lee and Nahariya remained scorelss for the first five minutes. Maccabi ran 16-3 and Vujcic gave them the lead for the first time (59-58). At the end of the third, Maccabi led 68-68. In the final quarter Beno Udrih was a major contributor (12 pts). Tal Burstein’s fourth three pointer, made it 91-82 for Maccabi. The final score 93-87 and 2-0 in the playoff finals.
For Maccabi: Vujcic 25 pts, 9 rbds, 4 ass, & 2 bsts, Goree 17 pts, 5 bsts & 4 rbds, Udrih 16 pts & 3 ass, Burstein 14 pts, 7 rbds & 2 ass, Shelef 9 pts & 8 rbds, Bluthenthal 9, Sharp 3.
Top scorers for Nahariya: Lee 30 pts & 6 ass, Campbell 21 pts, 10 rbds & 3 bsts, Shteinhauer 13 pts & 11 rbds. Game 3 will be played on Wednesday, June 4 at 20:30 in Yad Eliyahu.
