Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv lost their season opener in an away game against Hapoel Unet Holon, 83-73. Hickman led Maccabi’s scorers with 16 points; Blu scored 11 points.
By Amy Samin
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv lost their first game of the 2013-14 Winner Sal (Israeli) League season, 83-73 to Hapoel Unet Holon. Ricky Hickman led Maccabi’s scorers with 16 points. David Blu, in his comeback game for Maccabi, scored 11 points. Tyrese Rice also contributed 11 points, while Sylven Landesberg added 10 points. Devin Smith, Jake Cohen, and Yuval Naimy did not dress for the game. The team will fly to Spain tomorrow (Tuesday) for their Euroleague season opener against Laboral Kutxa Vitoria on Thursday.
Maccabi’s starters were Ricky Hickman, newly-signed (to a ten day contract) returnee David Blu, Yogev Ohayon, Joe Ingles and Sofo Schortsanitis. The period got off to a good start for hosts Holon, but two oh-so-familiar three pointers by Blu kept Maccabi close. Free throws by Sylven Landesberg tied the score at 15 with three and a half minutes left in the quarter. Hickman, Tyrese Rice and Landesberg added more points for Maccabi, but the period ended with Holon in the lead, 25-22.
Rice came out strong at the start of the second quarter while Blu added a drive to the basket and a perfect alley oop pass to Ingles under the basket that put Maccabi up 31-30 close to the halfway mark. Great hustle by Alex Tyus secured the offensive rebound and led to points by Ingles, while Hickman added a catch and shoot triple and an oop to Tyus that put Maccabi up 38-33 with three minutes left in the half. Two more buckets by Tyus gave Maccabi their biggest lead of the night so far, 42-35 with just over a minute remaining, but Holon battled their way back to 42-39. A drive to the basket by Hickman ended the half with Maccabi up by five, 44-39.
The third quarter got underway with good defense from Sofo and points by Landesberg and Hickman that made it 51-42 after three minutes of play. Blu and Hickman each scored from downtown, and Ohayon added a triple of his own from the right corner that put Maccabi up 60-47. Holon battled their way back into the game, pulling to within four by the end of the period 65-61.
Holon quickly closed the gap in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, tying things up at 65 thanks in part to an unsportsmanlike call against Maccabi’s captain, Shawn James. The score seesawed for several minutes, with Tyus and Hickman keeping Maccabi in the game, but the hosts broke things open as the clock wound down,taking a 75-70 lead with just over a minute left. Nothing could keep Holon from claiming victory, and Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv ended up losing to Hapoel Unet Holon 83-73.
