Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv easily defeated Bnei Herzliya 76-58 in an Israeli Cup quarterfinal game at Nokia Arena. Sofo led Maccabi’s scorers with 12 points, while Pnini, Ohayon and Blu scored 11 points each.
By Amy Samin
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv easily defeated Bnei Herzliya 76-58 in an Israel Cup quarterfinal game at Nokia Arena. Maccabi’s top scorer was Sofo Schortsanitis with 12 points, while Guy Pnini, Yogev Ohayon and David Blu each contributed 11 points. The Cup semi-final will take place at Nokia on 3 February 2014.
Starters for Maccabi were Devin Smith, Ricky Hickman, Guy Pnini, Yogev Ohayon and Sofo Schortsanitis. Maccabi came out at full throttle and jumped to a 9-2 lead that was built on points from Sofo, Pnini and Smith. Herzliya struggled while Maccabi continued to dominate, with steals, fast breaks, and three more buckets from downtown (Hickman, Ohayon, and David Blu), and the period ended with the hosts up 28-12.
The visitors scored early in the second quarter to narrow the gap to 28-17, but Tyrese Rice, Blu (top of the arc) and Sylven Landesberg (layup) made it 35-22 after three minutes of action. Both teams kept up the intensity but had trouble sinking their shots for the next several minutes, until Ohayon scored a baseline jumper and Pnini added a putback. The guests continued to battle, and the half ended with Maccabi leading 41-29.
The third period got off to a slow start, with Maccabi leafing 45-33 after four minutes. Blu and Smith added a pair of treys to make it 51-33 with three and a half minutes left in the period. Herzliya put together a couple of baskets, but two straight buckets in the paint by Sofo closed out the period with Maccabi leading 55-40.
The fourth quarter got underway with more points from Sofo, with Pnini adding a layup that made it 60-47 after three minutes. Pnini, Tyus (two handed slam) and Ohyaon combined to put Maccabi’s lead at fifteen, 66-51 with three minutes left in the game. Smith added a dunk and 1 (assist Ohayon), Blu scored in the paint and Landesberg added two gimmies and a buzzer-beater from downtown to give Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv a 76-58 victory over Bnei Herzliya and a ticket to the Israeli Cup semifinal.
