{"id":31560,"date":"2011-10-24T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/maccabi-wins-nailbiter-in-ashkelon\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T13:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T10:48:25","slug":"maccabi-wins-nailbiter-in-ashkelon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/maccabi-wins-nailbiter-in-ashkelon\/","title":{"rendered":"Maccabi Wins Nailbiter in Ashkelon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><P align=left><FONT size=2 face=Arial>By Amy Samin<\/FONT> <BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv won a tough away game Monday night, defeating Ironi Ashkelon 87 \u2013 83. Hendrix (9 rebounds) and Eliyahu each scored 17 points; Blu contributed 15. Ohayon dished out no fewer than 9 assists, and Papaloukas, in his first Israeli League game, made 8 assists and scored a crucial basket with seconds left on the clock. Newly signed guard Keith Langford, who arrived in Israel earlier in the evening, showed up to support his new teammates.<\/FONT> <\/P> <P align=center><IFRAME height=330 src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/47VDMsFrquU?hl=iw&amp;fs=1\" frameBorder=0 width=425 allowfullscreen><\/IFRAME><\/P> <P align=center><BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The Israeli champions came to the game without Jordan Farmar, who is recovering from an injury, and Sofo Schortsanitis who got the night off. This was Maccabi\u2019s fourth away game in the last week. On Thursday, they\u2019ll face Partizan mt:s Belgrade at Nokia Arena, for the home Euroleague opener (9:00 pm, channel 10).<\/FONT> <BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>After the game, head coach <B>David Blatt<\/B> said, \u201cLast year we also had a tough time here, apparently it\u2019s hard for us in Ashkelon. As I recall, Maccabi also lost here a few times in the past. I\u2019m glad we were able to prevent that tonight. Ashkelon played extremely well, and they are to be congratulated. We knew what to do in the critical moments of the game, and that was enough. The third game in less than a week isn\u2019t easy, and it\u2019s part of the process for us, to learn how to do it and win.\u201d<\/FONT> <\/P> <P align=center><IMG style=\"WIDTH: 425px; HEIGHT: 281px\" border=1 hspace=0 alt=\"\u05e7\u05d9\u05ea' \u05dc\u05e0\u05d2\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d3 \u05d9\u05d7\u05d3 \u05e2\u05dd \u05e4\u05e8\u05de\u05d0\u05e8 \u05d5\u05e1\u05d5\u05e4\u05d5 \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05e1\u05e4\u05e1\u05dc\" align=baseline src=\"https:\/\/www.maccabi.co.il\/mtpic\/20111024%200070%20(Medium).jpg\"><BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>\u201cWe\u2019re going to have some close games this season, and the important thing is to know how to win them. It doesn\u2019t matter if we win by 4 points or by 40. Last week you [the media] told us we had no place in this league, and now here we\u2019ve had a close game. I\u2019m glad we won in the end, that\u2019s the most important thing. I\u2019m very happy to see Langford, and we\u2019re going to need another creative guard, especially as long as Jordan can\u2019t play (injury). We played tonight with lineups we won\u2019t use for much of the season. Once Jordan and Keith are back in shape I imagine we\u2019ll go back to being the same team we were a week ago.\u201d<\/FONT> <BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Maccabi\u2019s starting five were Jon Scheyer, Yogev Ohayon, Devin Smith, Lior Eliyahu, and Shawn James. The hosts got off to a good start in the game, taking a 9 \u2013 4 lead after three minutes. Eliyahu scored on a fastbreak and Smith sank two from the foul line to put Maccabi within one. Points by David Blu and Guy Pnini gave Maccabi the lead, which Ashkelon quickly retook off points by Dwayne Mitchell. A layup by Theo Papaloukas put Maccabi back up 19 \u2013 17, but seven unanswered points by Ashkelon gave them a five point lead. Two straight buckets by Richard Hendrix closed out the quarter with Maccabi trailing by one, <B>24 \u2013 23<\/B>.<\/FONT> <\/P> <P align=center><IMG style=\"WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 453px\" border=1 hspace=0 alt=\"\u05dc\u05d9\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 \u05de\u05de\u05e9\u05d9\u05da \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05ea\u05e7\u05d5\u05e4\u05d4 \u05d4\u05de\u05e6\u05d5\u05d9\u05e0\u05ea\" align=baseline src=\"https:\/\/www.maccabi.co.il\/mtpic\/20111024%200075%20(Medium).jpg\"><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>With Papaloukas running the offense and dishing out three straight assists in the first minute of the second quarter, Maccabi retook the lead, 27 \u2013 24. Raymar Morgan and company kept fighting, and within two minutes had put Ashkelon back within one, 29 \u2013 28. Minutes later, they had tied the score at 31. Thanks to a basket and 1 by Eliyahu, Maccabi extended that lead to four, 36 \u2013 32. But Ashkelon\u2019s defense held Maccabi scoreless for the last minute and a half of the period, following a dunk by Hendrix on the inbounds. The two straight shots from outside the arc didn\u2019t hurt the hosts either, and the teams went into the halftime break with Ashkelon leading <B>41 \u2013 38<\/B>.<\/FONT> <BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Maccabi inaugurated the third quarter with points by James (assist Ohayon) and soon points by Smith on the inbounds had tied the score at 46. Mitchell and Morgan continued to show off their skill, but they were answered by Hendrix and Smith. A huge dunk by Hendrix (offensive rebound + assist, Ohayon) made it 56 \u2013 55, Maccabi with three and a half minutes left in the period. The lead changed hands three more times, until a layup by Scheyer and points by Eliyahu gave Maccabi a <B>63 \u2013 60<\/B> lead as time ran out on the third period.<\/FONT> <\/P> <P align=center><IMG border=1 hspace=0 alt=\"\u05db\u05de\u05e2\u05d8 \u05d3\u05d0\u05d1\u05dc \u05d3\u05d0\u05d1\u05dc \u05d1\u05d1\u05db\u05d5\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05dc\u05d9\u05d2\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05ea, \u05e4\u05d0\u05e4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05e7\u05d0\u05e1\" align=baseline src=\"https:\/\/www.maccabi.co.il\/mtpic\/20111024%200582%20(Medium)-1.jpg\"><BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Blu scored a three pointer and a long two to get things started in the fourth quarter, but Marco Killingsworth and Morgan scored to retake the lead yet again, 69 \u2013 68. Two more special deliveries from downtown by Blu put Maccabi up 76 \u2013 73 near the halfway mark in the period. Maccabi fought for rebounds on both ends of the court, and Hendrix drained a fadeaway jumper to extend Maccabi\u2019s lead, following it up with another bucket that made it 82 \u2013 76. A crucial stop and pop by Papaloukas made it 84 \u2013 80 with 28 seconds remaining on the clock. Mitchell and Killingsworth did their best, but Papaloukas\u2019 basket off the fastbreak helped Maccabi hold on to bring home the win, <B>87 \u2013 83<\/B> over Ironi Ashkelon.<\/FONT> <BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial><B><U>BOXSCORE<\/U><\/B><\/FONT><\/P> <P align=justify><FONT size=2 face=Arial><B>Maccabi<\/B>: Hendrix 17 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals; Eliyahu 17 points, 5 rebounds; Blu 15 points; Smith 11 points, 4 rebounds; James 9 points, 3 rebounds; Papaloukas 8 points, 8 assists; Ohayon 4 points, 9 assists; Pnini 4 points; Scheyer 2 points.<\/FONT> <BR><\/P> <P><FONT size=2 face=Arial><B>Top Scorers for Ashkelon<\/B>: Morgan 23 points; Killingsworth and Mitchell 17 points each; Skinn 13 points.<\/FONT> <BR><\/P> <P><A href=\"https:\/\/www.samintranslations.com\/\" target=_blank><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><U>www.samintranslations.com<\/U><\/FONT><\/A><FONT size=2 face=Arial> <\/FONT><\/P> <P><BR><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv pulled out an 87 \u2013 83 win over Ironi Ashkelon in their fourth away game in a week.  Hendrix, Eliyahu and Blu were top scorers.  On Thursday Maccabi meets Partizan mt:s Belgrade at Nokia Arena in their first home Euroleague game of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"custom_author":[],"class_list":["post-31560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31560"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486115,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31560\/revisions\/486115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31560"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=31560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}