A 28:15 fourth quarter was enough to secure the justified away win for Maccabi. The crew in yellow and blue was led by Cohen (21P, 3R & 4A) and Scottie (19P, 2R, 4A & 3S)
Coach Sfairopoulos’ starting five: Wilbekin, Zoosman, Kane, Cohen and Black. Zoosman hit the first dagger in the game sparking the yellow offense to an early 2:10 lead. Ginat scored five points to keep the reds closer to the crew in yellow and blue (7:10). Cohen kept Maccabi ahead but Ginat and Howell reacted for the reds making it 14:16. Douglas scored back to back threes to put Hapoel ahead 20:18 Stephens was the last to score in the first quarter in a fastbreak to give his team the 22:19 lead after 10 minutes.
Scottie scored at the beginning of the second quarter but Ginat reacted from deep, increasing the locals’ lead to 21:25. Both teams had to get their points from the free throw line with neither one of the sides really being able to capitalize as Hapoel kept their lead (31:28). The yellows manage to get stops on defense and converted them beautifully to great offensive rhythm with Tarik being the man for coach Sfairopoulos (36:36). Tyus managed to give the visitors the 37:38 edge at halftime.
Douglas started the third quarter scoring five points to put the locals ahead, Cohen and Zoosman reacted but Douglas scored from deep keeping his team ahead 47:45. The heavyweight bout continued with Zoosman and Scottie hitting back to back threes to spark the offense in yellow and blue forcing coach Franco to call for a timeout with the scoreboard showing 49:53. Madar and Howell tied the game but Zoosman managed to keep Maccabi ahead 55:57 with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter. Douglas was the last to score in the third quarter making it a tie (57:57).
Roll and Zoosman scored to give the yellows the 60:62 edge; Johnny increased Maccabi’s lead, Limonad reacted and thus the sides started another round of trading blows with Scottie coming up big knocking down huge daggers to put Maccabi ahead 67:72. Limonad made both of his free throws but Cohen and Black answered with a 6:0 run making it 69:78 with just over two minutes remaining in the game. From that point on there was only one team on the court as the yellows secure the 72:85 away win.
