The Yellow & Blue momentum continues as they bring their winning streak up to eight games. Avdija finished the night as the MVP, Jake Cohen, and Elijah Bryant led Maccabi scorers with 14 & 12. On Thursday: Alba Berlin in Menorah Mivtachim Arena
After a perfect week in all competitions, Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv stayed undefeated in the Winner League after an 86:65 triumph over Ironi Nahariya to bring their record up to 5:0. Deni Avidja was terrific on both sides of the court, finishing his night with 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. On Thursday (21:00), The Yellow & Blue will host Alba Berlin in the seventh EuroLeague fixture.
Maccabi opened the contest with Nate Wolters, Tyler Dorsey, Deni Avdija, Omri Casspi, and Tarik Black in their starting five. Jerel McNeal scored five straight points to give Nahariya a 7:0 advantage, as Giannis Sfairopoulos called an early timeout. Omri Casspi scored Maccabi’s first points of the night, Black and Wolters cut down the visitors lead to 11:8. The Yellow & Blue went on top for the first time after a 10:2 run with impressive dunks by Avdija, and Black, but on the other end, McNeal with a tough three-pointer for the northern squad took back the lead, 14:12. Acy (three), Bryant (three-point play), and Cohen (layup) came off the bench to give Maccabi a 20:14 advantage after one.
Tony Gaffney scored six points at the start of the second quarter, but Cohen and Bryant kept Maccabi on top. Dorsey scored an easy bucket in transition, and Omri Casspi, with a big dunk, gave the hosts an 8 point advantage. Avdija found Dorsey with a beautiful bounce pass, and the guard slammed it home as the Yellow & Blue took a 41:31 lead into the half.
In the third, Dominic Waters scored his first points of the game as Dorsey and Avdija continued to find one another to preserve the double-digit advantage, 48:35. Midway through the third quarter, Nahariya scored 9 unanswered points to keep the northern team in the game as Acy hit his second shot behind the arc, 51:44 Maccabi. Avdija was the first player to reach the 10 point mark with another huge dunk, while the captain John DiBartolomeo scored 5 straight points at the end of the quarter to carry Maccabi to a 62: 50 lead going into the fourth.
Bryant opened the final quarter with a steal as he slammed it on the other end, DiBartolomeo with another bucket and Zoosman with another dunk put the Yellow & Blue on top 70:55. The hosts increased their lead to 19, with Cohen hitting a shot from outside, and the captain scoring two more. Cohen extended Maccabi’s advantage scoring five straight, putting Maccabi back in first place after an 86:65 victory.
