Persistence pays off for Kiryat Ata's basketball star, James Batemon

As the Israel Premier League basketball playoffs head into the semifinal round, it is no surprise that Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem, and Hapoel Tel Aviv are all participating. However, the fourth team, Ironi Kiryat Ata, has been one of the biggest surprises this past season under Sharon Avrahami's tutelage.

Kiryat Ata, which has the smallest budget in the league this season, was the clear “Cinderella” club. It beat all of the top teams while finishing the campaign in sixth place. It featured in the semifinals of the Israel State Cup while also knocking off upstart Maccabi Ramat Gan in a 3-0 sweep in the quarterfinal round.

With a mix of young Israeli players – including up-and-coming teenager Ben Saraf, who is potentially the next Sabra to head to the NBA – along with veteran imports who are hungry to succeed, Avrahami was able to mold the team in his vision while no doubt being the frontrunner to be named Coach of the Season.

One of the show's stars is fearless guard James Batemon, who, from day one with the club, was given the keys to the car to run the offense for Kiryat Ata.

The 27-year-old Milwaukee native has shown a very bright future ahead of him thanks to his stellar play all season long, averaging 17.3 points, 3.8 assists, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in close to 32 minutes a game. Batemon was Kiryat Ata’s brightest star, and he proved that when allowed to be a leading player, he could step up, as he now has his team just two wins away from the finals.

As Kiryat Ata prepares to face Hapoel Tel Aviv on Thursday night at the Drive-In Arena in Tel Aviv, Batemon spoke to The Jerusalem Post about the team’s superb season, the keys to overcoming Ramat Gan and how excited he is for his teammates who have earned various honors.

“It feels amazing,” Batemon began. “Like I said, it’s everything I dreamed of to play in the playoffs, and it’s the first year in my career that I can. COVID-19 was around the first two years, so I couldn’t, then I had a down season my third year. My fourth year I was jumping teams to get to the next level and then I finally got a team that let me be myself and let me showcase my God-given talents to put up a display and it feels amazing. I’m happy.”

Kiryat Ata was in the hole for most of Game 3 at Ramat Gan but was able to force overtime and then win the game thanks to Batemon’s huge fourth-quarter performance, including knocking clutch free throws down the stretch.

“Honestly, every time I go to the line, I think that I’ve been doing this my whole life, so if I make or miss, I know I put in the work. I’m not afraid of those big moments. Honestly, it takes me back to the time I was in the playoffs in junior college, playing against Nuni Omot [who now plays for Ramat Gan]. He went to Indian Hills, and I went to North Dakota. We played them in overtime, and with the free throws at the end, I could see the basket shaking. In this game, I could see the basket shaking, too, from the crowd jumping and rocking, and it just took me back to reminiscing about my college days. I made both free throws then, and I have made both free throws now. I’m upset with myself because I missed four in overtime, but I was tired. I made the ones that counted.”

Batemon has played through injuries over the past month or so, and while that definitely hurt his play a few weeks ago in the State Cup semifinal loss at Maccabi Tel Aviv, it hasn’t played a factor now in the playoffs.

Down but not out

“I’m still injured. I’m playing through injury for my team because they sacrificed so much for me. That’s the least I can do. Nobody is 100 percent at this time, though, but it’s the playoffs, so I had no choice. My faith in God, my preparation and everything going to the training room and getting treatment to get healthy, those are all of the things I did to get back onto the court, and it paid off.”

There had been a debate among basketball aficionados as to who deserves to be named Coach of the Season between Avrahami or Ramat Gan’s Shmulik Brenner. Still, after the 3-0 series that Kiryat Ata won, the debate ended very swiftly.

“Yes, he’s the coach of the season,” Batemon said of Avrahami. “Hopefully, he’ll get the award. He helped us get to this point, he had a lot of faith in me and gave me a lot of responsibility, and I can’t thank him enough for that.”

One of the surprise players for Kiryat Ata has been JJ Kaplan, who played college ball at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and joined the club when it was in the second division in 2021. For the most part, early on, Kaplan came off the bench for spot minutes here or there, but over the past few months, the guard has raised his level of play with huge performances when all the chips were on the table.

“I’m happy as hell for him,” Batemon commented. “I’ve been with JJ since I got here. It’s his third year, and he hadn’t played much all three years until this moment, and he just waited his turn and kept grinding, kept working, kept a positive attitude. There were times that he wanted to quit basketball during this year and I just told him to keep pushing... He has a bright future.”

Guy Palatin has been hands-down the best defensive player in the league, with 2.5 steals a game, and Saraf is going to have a huge future and was also recognized for his accomplishments. But without a doubt, Batemon is the club’s leader and is in the mix for the league’s Most Valuable Player award as well as earning a place on the League’s First-Team All-Stars list.

“They deserved it first and foremost. Defensive player of the year – Guy was terrific; it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before the things he does on the court. Ben is a great talent. I have two brothers who play high school basketball, going on 16-17 years old, and Ben is playing professionally at 17 and now 18, so they deserve those awards.

“I worked hard for it all year, so I’m hoping for that [MVP]. If it doesn’t happen though I’m not going to be upset about it, I just know I gave my all here, did everything I could do and we’re winning, so that’s the most important. I’m trying to get a championship and go as far as I can here, so the individual rewards are not so much, but I would definitely love to have them.”

Now that the semifinals are about to begin, Batemon is super excited to get another chance to shine in one of the most vibrant atmospheres Israeli basketball has to offer.

“I’ve tried to keep my mind off of it because I wanted to focus on closing out this series [against Ramat Gan]. But all I could think about was playing in that Drive-In Arena with the Hapoel Tel Aviv crowd in the playoffs. It’s going to be amazing. This season has been wonderful. I’m just glad I can be here to do it.”