Streaking Maccabi Tel Aviv overcomes Hapoel Jerusalem in Israeli Classico

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 90-78 on Sunday night at Yad Eliyahu as captain John DiBartolomeo proved to be unstoppable in what was a rough-and-tumble contest to help the yellow-and-blue not only take the Classico but also bump up its Israeli league winning streak to 10 games.

Wade Baldwin and Bonzie Colson got busy for the hosts early, but Levi Randolph came back with points to keep the visitors close. However, an on-court scuffle saw Jerusalem’s Khadeen Carrington ejected for leaving the bench which changed the complexion of the contest.

Still, fine play from JaCorey Williams kept Jerusalem in the game, and Oded Katash’s team was only able to head into halftime sporting a 44-37 advantage

Oz Blayzer and Randolph continued to threaten for the Reds in the the third stanza, but DiBartolomeo started hitting his shots from deep while Baldwin scored key baskets in the final frame to close out the Maccabi victory.

DiBartolomeo led all scorers with 19 points, Baldwin added 17 points and Colson scored 16 points in the win.

Randolph scored 18 points to pace Hapoel, Speedy Smith chipped in with 15 points and Williams scored 14 points in the loss.

An 'intense' and 'agressive' game

“It was an intense and aggressive game that was tough to officiate,” Katash said. “It was a good game, we are playing well but we did have more turnovers than assists for the first time in quite some time, which is not our usual game, so Jerusalem deserves credit for that. They came up with some tough defense every time we tried to go on a run, but we won the game against a very good team and to score 90 points against a team like Jerusalem is never easy.”

“Maccabi won the game fairly and we had some issues that were difficult for us to handle,” Jerusalem coach Ilias Kantzouris said. “Khadeen Carrington being ejected and Or Cornelius not being able to continue after halftime isn’t something easy to handle when you face a team like Maccabi. Even though we were able to come back, we made some unforced turnovers and missed some concentration on defense.”

Tel Aviv’s Colson looked back at the victory.

“It was a tough game and Jerusalem is a very talented group, talented guards with a lot of guys from last year. But at the end of the day we stick with our principles and it doesn’t matter who we are playing. We got a lot of energy from some of the guys that lifted us during the moments where they went on a run.”

Blayzer also spoke about the game from his and Jerusalem’s point of view.

“We had some good moments, but every time we came close we had some issues. We lost some of our players and it’s tough to play here at Yad Eliyahu. We have to take the good things from this game and look ahead to later this week as we look to advance to the next stage of the Basketball Champions League. We are at a very critical juncture in our season and we have to make sure we come out and do our best.”

In other Israeli basketball action, Hapoel Afula surprised Hapoel Holon 72-60 as the hosts controlled the pace of play throughout the 40 minutes of play.

Spencer Weisz paced Afula over the course of first half while Marcellus Earlington, Tomer Assayag and Lucas Goldenberg all came out strong in the second half as they were able to keep Holon’s  Tahjere McCall, Justin Smith and Netanel Artzi at bay to pick up the win,

Earlington scored 18 points, Goldenberg added 13 points and Assyag put in 12 points for Afula in the win. Smith scored 14 points to lead Holon, McCall added 13 points and Artzi scored 10 points and grabbed 10 boards in the loss.