Maccabi opened the game with Carlos Arroyo, Marcus Brown, Omri Casspi, D\u2019or Fischer and Lior Eliyahu. Maccabi opened the second quarter with a three-pointer by Arroyo, coming within two of <\/SPAN> Maccabi still had an entire half to get back in the game, but within two minutes of the start of the third quarter, they were down by 30. Maccabi opened the final quarter of the game with strong defense, and that, together with a three-pointer by team captain Derrick Sharp and points by Fischer, took Maccabi on a 6 \u2013 0 scoring run, and brought the Hapoel lead down to 20, 75 – 55 after a minute and a half of play. <\/SPAN>A shot from outside the arc by Shason and a dunk by Bowers closed the door on any hope of a comeback for Maccabi, and all that was left for them to do was try and narrow the gap and prevent the damage from being worse. Box Scores: Maccabi<\/SPAN><\/B>: Arroyo 16 points, 6 assists; Casspi 13 points; Sharp 11 points; Burstein and Eliyahu 9 points each; Hapoel<\/SPAN><\/B>: Bowers 27 points; Sneed 18 points; Watson 14 points; Powell 12 points. \u201cThere were a lot of things that didn\u2019t work today,\u201d concluded Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim<\/B>. Tal Burstein<\/SPAN><\/B>:
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<\/SPAN>Hapoel\u2019s starting five included Sharon Shason, Travis Watson, Timmy Bowers, Omar Sneed and Moran Rot.
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<\/SPAN>Maccabi wasn\u2019t able to break through the Hapoel defense, executing turnovers instead of points.
<\/SPAN>Finally, a huge block by Fischer ended with a fast break and a dunk by Eliyahu at the other end.
<\/SPAN>Eliyahu returned the favor to Fischer, and the score went to 12 \u2013 8 with three minutes left in the quarter.
<\/SPAN>Eliyahu was definitely Maccabi\u2019s main man in the first quarter, taking passes and handing out assists, but missed shots from outside the arc (0 for 5 in the first quarter for Maccabi), and a three-pointer by Roger Powell for Hapoel, kept Jerusalem comfortably in the lead.
<\/SPAN>The quarter ended with the score at 19 \u2013 14.
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<\/SPAN>Hapoel responded with a flood of baskets, going on a 10 \u2013 0 scoring rampage until Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim finally called a time out with the score at 29 \u2013 17, two minutes into the second quarter.
<\/SPAN>Whatever Efy said didn\u2019t seem to make much difference, as Maccabi continued to struggle.
<\/SPAN>Bowers and company continued to batter the disorganized Maccabi defense, who quickly found themselves at a 36 \u2013 20 deficit with four minutes left in the quarter.
<\/SPAN>Maccabi had nothing left to do but try and get the ball to Arroyo, but the point guard wasn\u2019t in the zone, and failed to make his shots.
<\/SPAN>Maccabi went down by twenty, 46 \u2013 26.
<\/SPAN>Close to the end of the quarter, Maccabi got points from Casspi and Fischer, but it wasn\u2019t enough to stop Hapoel\u2019s flood of baskets, and the half ended with the score at 51 \u2013 30, in favor of Jerusalem.<\/SPAN><\/P>
<\/P> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.maccabi.co.il\/mtpic\/NGN_7844-1.jpg\")
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<\/SPAN>Points by Arroyo and Casspi helped lower the gap to 60 \u2013 40, halfway through the quarter.
<\/SPAN>But an almost complete absence of rebounds on defense and a practically non-existent offense stopped any momentum Maccabi might have found, and
<\/SPAN>Casspi and Arroyo, who continued to be nearly the only scorers in the quarter, led their team on an 8 \u2013 1 scoring run that chipped away at the huge Hapoel lead.
<\/SPAN>But a three-pointer by Bowers capped the quarter, and the buzzer sounded on a 75 \u2013 49
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<\/SPAN>Hapoel head coach Guy Goodes called a time out, which didn\u2019t help much; Sharp scored 5 straight points, and strong defense by Maccabi brought the score to 75 \u2013 60 four minutes into the quarter.
<\/SPAN>A three-pointer by Rot broke that momentum, and a tired-looking Maccabi couldn\u2019t seem to break the 15 point lead barrier.<\/p>\n
<\/SPAN>The game ended with a 91 \u2013 77 victory for Hapoel Jerusalem over Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv.
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<\/SPAN>Fischer 7 points, 10 rebounds; Williams 6 points; Brown and Green 3 points each.
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<\/SPAN>\u201cWe were ready, but we froze completely.
<\/SPAN>People didn\u2019t do even 20% of what we\u2019d planned.
<\/SPAN>Later, people came into the game who prevented it from running away from us completely, to a 30 or 40 point difference.
<\/SPAN>It\u2019s no secret that
<\/SPAN>This loss means we need to do some serious thinking, and to play better.
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<\/SPAN>\u201c
<\/SPAN>We didn\u2019t have any responses for the things they did.
<\/SPAN>We didn\u2019t react well, and we weren\u2019t really in the game for the whole four quarters.
<\/SPAN>Today\u2019s game was really one sided, we didn\u2019t show enough ability to close their lead, and it kept getting bigger and bigger.
<\/SPAN>At the very end, we only succeeded in reducing that gap from very big to just big, and that doesn\u2019t really matter all that much.\u201d