Basketball drama: Maccabi and Hapoel dominate premier league finals

Maccabi Tel Aviv disposed of Hapoel Jerusalem in a 2-0 series sweep with a 82-73 victory on Friday afternoon to ease into the Israel Premier League finals, while Hapoel Tel Aviv knotted their series up at 1-1 against upstart Ironi Kiryat Ata with a 70-62 Saturday victory, with Game 3 slated for Monday night at the Drive-In Arena.

The finals will be a best-of-3 series which will begin on Thursday night, with Game 1 at Yad Eliyahu followed by Game 3 on Saturday night, while Game 3 will be held next Monday back at Yad Eliyahu if necessary.

In Jerusalem on Friday, Maccabi Tel Aviv jumped out to an early lead thanks to Bonzie Colson, Roman Sorkin and Jasiel Rivero and bumped up the lead to 47-32 by halftime, with Sorkin and Lorenzo Brown doing much of the damage.

However, Yovel Zoosman came out of halftime possessed for Jerusalem and scored at will to bring Yonatan Alon’s squad to within 59-56 after 30 minutes. But Rivero, Sorkin, Brown and Colson were able to stave off Speedy Smith, Khadeen Carrington and the Reds to clinch the win and the series for Oded Katash’s Maccabi.

Sorkin scored 20 points and took 13 rebounds, Colson added 15 points, Brown dropped 14 points and Rivero scored 11 points in the win. Zoosman and Carrington each scored 15 points while JaCorey Williams added 14 points for Hapoel in the loss.

“I’m really happy as to how we came into the game and how aggressive we were,” Katash said. “We expected this in a classico series between Jerusalem and Maccabi. For three quarters we were excellent defensively, but not in the third quarter where we gave them some open looks and it hurt us as they came back into the game. We spoke about winning the game during the timeout and that’s what we did. I’m very happy.”

Reflections on Jerusalem's basketball season

“We didn’t play properly offensively and we allowed Maccabi to get into the game very quickly,” Alon lamented. “That kind of disturbed us, we made some changes at halftime but that wasn’t enough. Jerusalem is a top team and we finished a bit low in the standings and had to face Holon and then Maccabi.

This season could have gone to even worse places than how it ended up finishing as we could have really fallen apart. But we did finish the season with a title and we were able to fill up the arena so we need to be proud of what we accomplished.”

Antonius Cleveland, who didn’t play in the first game but did in the second, made an impact on the contest to help Maccabi to the win.

“I wanted to play and help being out there. I didn’t play here last time and I wanted to experience that. We have a deep team and we have played without Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown at some point in the season but Tamir Blatt can play and Jasiel Rivero has been great.”

Zoosman also looked back at the series that was for Jerusalem.

“We didn’t do a good enough job shutting down their offense and while we were able to get back into the game and it was -3 or so, they put in a number of easy buckets to create separation again. Maccabi is a very high quality team but I do think we were able to cut off Blatt and Brown’s passes but it wasn’t enough.”

Up north, Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated host Kiryat Ata to even up their semifinal series at 1-1 thanks to stellar play down the stretch by Tyler Ennis, which set up a decisive Game 3 slated for Monday night.

Tomer Ginat and Jaylen Hoard scored early and often for Hapoel Tel Aviv while Amin Stevens and Raz Adam countered for Kiryat Ata, but the Reds took a 17-13 lead after 10 minutes.

Isaiah Miles opened the second quarter with a pair of triples, but Bar Timor also went from deep for Tel Aviv, while Stevens scored inside while Ben Saraf found points at the half-time buzzer to knot the game up at 34-34.

John Holland dialed up long distance and Ennis scored to begin the third quarter, Akia Pruitt and Saraf responded for Kiryat Ata. Stevens, Xavier Munford and James Batemon traded baskets but a deuce by Ginat gave Stefanos Dedas’s Tel Aviv a 54-49 lead after 30 minutes.

Saraf and Timor scored for their respective teams to get the fourth quarter under way, JJ Kaplan put in a 3-point play for the visitors. However, Adam went from deep, and Holland also scored to help counter a couple of clutch baskets from Ennis to help Hapoel prevail and set up a decisive Game 3.

Ennis scored 17 points, Ginat added 12 points while Holland, Munford and Timor each had 9 points for Tel Aviv in the win. Stevens scored 16 points and Saraf added 10 points for Kiryat Ata in the loss.

“I’m happy because this is the first do-or-die game that the team showed character until the end,” Dedas said. “We prepared well and we deserved the win. It’s been really difficult to control this team after less than two months being here. At some moments it’s a big mess, but if we win Monday we play in the finals.”

“We didn’t shoot well from the line and left 14 points there which hurt us,” Kiryat Ata bench boss Sharon Avrahami said. “We played well defensively but not well enough offensively. It was a big game and I am proud of the guys. There were a couple of calls that were questionable but we did have a great journey so far and we have another game to advance to the finals.”

Ennis, the game’s MVP, also spoke about the victory.

“It’s the playoffs and we knew if we lost, we would go home so we wanted to give ourselves another chance. We became aggressive and we got stops at the end. We are figuring it out, there are times when we look good and times when we don’t. I just want to play my game and help the team out.”