Maccabi, Hapoel Tel Aviv notch pivotal Euro hoops conquests

Both Israeli teams in Euroleague action knocked off their respective opponents on the back end of the double week as Maccabi Tel Aviv took care of Valencia and Hapoel Tel Aviv sent Panathinaikos to its first defeat of the season. Maccabi Tel Aviv held off Valencia 91-88 on the road as six players scored in double figures to help the yellow-and-blue improve to 2-4 in Euroleague play. Oded Katash’s squad seized control early behind Yam Madar, but Armoni Brooks and Nikola Mirotic kept the hosts within striking distance as Maccabi took a narrow 50-48 lead into halftime. Jimmy Clark stepped up after the break, while Roman Sorkin, Oshae Brissett and Bonzie Colson delivered key baskets down the stretch. Gonzalo Corbalan and Brooks kept Xavier Albert’s side in contention, but Valencia’s late comeback fell short as Maccabi held on for a valuable road win. Clark scored 17 points, Sorkin added 16 points and Brissett scored 14 points in the victory while Brooks and Corbalan each scored 14 points and Mirotic put in 12 points in the loss. Katash reflected on the victory. “This was very sweet, to be on this side of the coin. We showed a lot of character. This game was a challenge, but we had good body language and really wanted the win. We had some bad luck in Barcelona, but we can start to see that we’re building some consistency in our play. Some of our issues on inbound plays may have been due to a lack of experience. We haven’t had much time to work on that in practice until now, but we’ll make a point of addressing it going forward.” Sorkin was equally pleased with the result, particularly after Maccabi’s recent disappointment. “It’s a lot of fun to win this game because the last loss was cruel, but we got it done here. I’m happy we were able to take this victory, and we also proved to ourselves that we can win on the road against a top team. We didn’t start the season well, but we’re improving.” Hapoel Tel Aviv's victory against Panathinaikos In Athens, Hapoel Tel Aviv knocked off Panathinaikos 91-81 to improve to 4-2 and send the Greeks to their first loss of the season after starting the campaign 5-0. Dan Oturu started with 10 points to help the visitors to an early lead as Sylvain Francisco answered at the other but the Reds grabbed a 29-25 lead after 10 minutes of play. After a back-and-forth second quarter Hapoel still maintained the advantage 48-46 at halftime. Elijah Bryant started to score to bump the lead up to 68-61 after 30 minutes of action, but a 11-0 run by Panathinaikos put the hosts in front 72-71 as time wound down. However, triples by Bryant and Vasilije Micic closed out the win for Hapoel. LeDay scored 17 points, Bryant had 12 of his 14 points in the second half and Oturu added 13 points in the win while Sylvain Francisco scored 22 points Tel Aviv’s Dimitris Itoudis spoke about his side’s victory. “We had a clear idea of being composed and having trust and belief from the beginning until the end. I am happy that after the second double week we managed to have four wins. Though we don’t have a short memory, we are also the team that lost the opening game against Bayern. I am happy because we are getting wins in different ways and that shows that we have the length and depth.” LeDay also spoke about the win. “It took every minute, we fought and we stayed together. We didn’t quit and weathered the storm when they went on a run. We kept our minds calm and at the end of the day we trusted each other. Once we do that and play defense we can be one of the best teams in Europe.” See more Israeli sports coverage at www.sportsrabbi.com/en