Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Holon 88 – 74 at Hapachim Arena. Perkins (18 points) and Pargo (17) were outstanding. (Photos: Oded Karni, League Administration).
By Amy Samin
Five days before the Euroleague Top 16 gets underway, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Holon 88 – 74 at Hapachim Arena.
Doron Perkins had an outstanding game, with 18 points and 6 assists; Jeremy Pargo added 17 points and 6 assists, Sofoklis Schortsanitis contributed 13 points and 8 rebounds.
The team will take off for Barcelona early Tuesday morning.
Coach Blatt tagged Sofo Schortsanitis, Doron Perkins, Guy Pnini, Lior Eliyahu and Jeremy Pargo to start.
They faced off against Amit Ben-David, Robert Hite, Nir Cohen, Kasib Powell, and Rich Melzer for Holon.
The home team got an early jump, and it wasn’t until nearly two minutes had elapsed that an oop from Pnini to Eliyahu put Maccabi on the scoreboard.
A three by Perkins (who was 4 of 5 from outside the arc on the night) put Maccabi within one, and Sofo scored the go-ahead basket in the paint, 11 – 10 Maccabi.
The game stayed close for the next two minutes, until Perk scored two straight from downtown and dished to Pargo in the paint to give Maccabi some breathing room, 23 – 18. Richard Hendrix, co-captain Tal Burstein and David Blu came off the bench and scored to help Maccabi keep the lead through the end of the quarter, 30 – 23.
Holon’s Sean Daniel served up two dirty fouls that sent Pargo and Hendrix to the charity stripe, but Melzer and Lior Segev scored to put Holon back within two, 34 – 32 four minutes into the period. Eliyahu and Sofo helped Maccabi pull away slightly, but Holon came back hard and with two minutes remaining in the period, re-took the lead, 41 – 39.
The advantage stayed with the home team through the end of the half, which ended with the score 45 – 41, Holon.
Two quick baskets by Eliyahu tied the game in the opening minute of the third quarter.
Pnini and Pargo scored from three-point range to put Maccabi up for good, and Pnini added a slick steal + layup to make it 56 – 48 after three and a half minutes of play.
Halfway through the period Perk nailed another three, making it 59 – 50.
Holon managed to narrow the gap, but Maccabi ended the quarter up by eight, 68 – 60.
Two from the foul line by Burstein gave Maccabi their first double-digit lead of the night only twelve seconds into the final period.
Pargo soon followed suit, and Blu added two straight from outside the arc to make it 78 – 62 after three minutes.
Pargo sent an amazing alley oop to Perk for a one handed dunk; a few minutes later, Perk dished to Sofo who also delivered the message single-handedly, 83 – 68, Maccabi.
Perkins had one last display of athleticism for the crowd, serving up two in the paint while falling to the floor.
His and-one put the cap on the play, and Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Holon by a score of 88 – 74.
Box Score:
Maccabi: Perkins 18 points, 6 assists; Pargo 17 points, 6 assists; Schortsanitis 13 points, 8 rebounds; Eliyahu 12 points; Blu 10 points; Pnini 8 points; Hendrix and Burstein 5 points each.
Maccabi head coach David Blatt said after the game, “Holon had an excellent first half, but we opened well in the second half.” About Hendrix and Mačvan, he remarked, “Even if they didn’t play as well as usual, it doesn’t matter.
There’s no need to get into that.
The main thing is that we had a good second half.
It’s natural that a team doesn’t play at its very best in every game; the main thing is to learn from it and to know how to overcome it.”
Regarding Thursday’s game in Barcelona, Blatt said, “Barcelona is a great team, and we’ll be discussing them in our practices leading up to the game.
They’re a tough team to beat, but so are we.
We’re a better team now than we were at the start of the season.
The games we’ve played recently don’t reflect our abilities, and I say that unequivocally.
Barcelona at home in the Euroleague is possibly the toughest team you can get.”
Guy Pnini, who finished the game with 8 points, said, “I think we didn’t start the game the way we should have.
Before the game we talked about how we need to play for 40 full minutes, but that didn’t happen.
Kudos to Holon who played very well, but I’m happy that we came out in the third quarter with intensity, the way we should have, and everything flowed from there.”
About the upcoming Euroleague Top 16 game, the forward said, “Now we’re thinking only about Barcelona.
I think every game starts out differently.
Today we started out badly, but we hope to open strong against Barcelona.
They’re a good team and we need to pay our basketball and not think about them too much.
I believe it will be okay.”
