By Amy Samin

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv advanced to the 2011 Israel Cup final after defeating Maccabi Ashdod 98 – 61 at Nokia Arena. Eliyahu earned game MVP honors with 18 points, Hendrix contributed 14 points and 8 boards, and Blu added 12 points.
Burstein and Mačvan also played well. Maccabi kept their opponent to only 3 points in the first quarter (27 – 3).
In the final, Maccabi will face Barak Netanya, who beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 78 – 77 in a nail-biter.

Guy Pnini, Jeremy Pargo, Lior Eliyahu, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, and Chuck Eidson started the game for Maccabi, while Ashdod led off with Meir Tapiro, Ramel Bradley, Wayne Wallace, Josh Carter, and Daniel Gur Arieh.
Maccabi’s defense stopped Ashdod completely, while the offense moved like a well-oiled machine.
A slick pass between defenders by Pnini led to Eliyahu’s first points on the night, 6 – 0 Maccabi after four minutes of play.
Pnini drained a three and Lior scored again in the paint to make it 11 – 0 halfway through the period.
Bradley put a point on the scoreboard for Ashdod from the charity stripe, but his team was unable to find the hoop from the field for another two minutes, while Perk and co-captain Tal Burstein scored from downtown; with two and a half minutes left in the period, Maccabi led 19 – 3.
David Blu delivered two of his patented catch-and-shoot three-pointers to finish the quarter with Maccabi leading 27 – 3.

The second quarter got underway with more points from Bradley at the foul line, which he later followed with a three, but Maccabi came back from a time out with fire in their eyes and began what would be become a 17 – 6 run that included dunks by Eidson and Perkins, a three pointer off the glass by Eliyahu at the top of the arc, and points in the paint by Pargo, Burstein, Eliyahu, and Richard Hendrix.
By the time the dust cleared, Maccabi’s lead had grown to 48 – 16 with less than two minutes left in the half.
Hendrix and Perk added points from the foul line to end the half, 51 – 22.

Two minutes into the third quarter, points in the paint from Pargo and Sofo had given Maccabi a 57 – 24 lead.
A fake shot turned assist on the inbounds by Pnini led to more points for Sofo under the basket, 59 – 27, while Pargo delivered a behind-the-back assist to Mačvan minutes later, making it 63 – 35.
Ashdod managed a 6 – 0 scoring run late in the period, but were answered by Eidson with a spinning fade-away, a drive in the lane by Blu (after excellent ball movement) and a putback by Mačvan that closed out the period with the score 72 – 45.

Eliyahu kicked off the final quarter with a bucket and one, giving Maccabi a 30 point lead, 75 – 45 after fifteen seconds.
It came as no surprise that with such a comfortable lead, the next thing Maccabi did was employ a full court press on defense.
Hendrix added a basket and one to make it 80 – 47 after two minutes.
Ashdod cobbled together an 8 – 0 run, but Hendrix put a stop to that with a dunk.
Tempers flared as Bradley took a swing and a miss at Burstein, earning him an unsportsmanlike charge and earning Maccabi another two points from the stripe.
Burstein went on to dish to Hendrix for a one-hander; halfway through the period Maccabi led 86 – 55.
Mačvan scored off an assist from Pnini and Hendrix scored on a spinning drive to the basket.
Pnini added four straight points and Mačvan wowed the crowd with a three from the corner.
The final point was contributed by Maccabi’s youngest player, Sean Labanowski, who scored from the foul line to complete Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s 98 – 61 victory over Maccabi Ashdod in the Israel Cup semi-final.

Box Score:

Maccabi: Eliyahu 18 points; Hendrix 14 points, 8 rebounds; Blu 12 points; Mačvan 10 points; Burstein, Pnini and Perkins 9 points each; Schortsanitis and Eidson 6 points each; Pargo 4 points; Labanowski 1 point.

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