Maccabi had the lead in the first and managed to complete an impressive comeback deep in the fourth but ended up falling short. John-Di (19P&5A) led four scorers in double digits
Coach Sfairopoulos’ starting five: Black, John-Di, Cohen, Kane
and Caloiaro. The locals were the first to score as they took the early 4:0 lead. Black sparked a 7:0 run for Maccabi who took the 4:7 lead. Kane connected with John-Di to keep Maccabi ahead (7:11), Ness Ziona tied the game but O’Bryant scored from distance to Keep Maccabi ahead 15:18. Cook made both free throws to stay close to the visitors with the first quarter coming to an end (17:18).Roll and Deni scored back to back threes at the beginning of the second quarter to take the 17:24 lead but Ness Ziona reacted with a 6:0 run to make it a
one point game again. Maccabi completed a 7:0 to increase their lead to 28:36, but Cook and Gutt reacted from distance forcing coach Sfairopoulos to call for a timeout with just under three minutes remaining in the second quarter. Tyus started reacting for Maccabi but Gutt scored from distance again to make it 37:39. Kane and Caloiaro turned great defense into instant offense as they beat the buzzer taking the 37:41 lead at halftime.Cook scored at the beginning of the third but Maccabi went on a 5:0 run (39:46). Gutt and Brown scored back to back threes to close to within a striking distance. Both teams traded blows with the locals being the ones to capitalize as they took the 54:50 lead forcing coach Sfairopoulos to call for a timeout. Cook increased Ness Ziona’s lead to 57:50; Zoosman and John-Di started reacting for Maccabi who managed to trim Ness Ziona’s lead to 60:57. John-Di made a
one point game but Ness Ziona managed to beat the buzzer having the 64:61 lead at the end of the third quarter.]
Zoosman scored at the beginning of the fourth, but the locals reacted as they stayed ahead 69:66. Brown increased the oranges’ lead to 73:68, Johnny reacted but Cook sealed a 5:0 run for the home side forcing Coach Sfairopoulos to call for a timeout with the scoreboard showing 78:70. Zoosman’s tremendous hustle resulted with Roll scoring from distance to keep Maccabi in the game (78:74) with under two minutes remaining in the game. Kane and John-Di tied the game. With 33.5 seconds remaining in the game Cook was fouled and made both of his free throws putting the locals ahead 80:78. John-Di hit a dagger from a distance to put Maccabi ahead 80:81 but Cook reacted from downtown to Give Ness Ziona the 83:81 win.
