Game description

Hapoel travels to the southernmost point in Israel for the away part of the Igud cup semi finals, for a hard game against Hapoel Eilat. About 250 spectators were present 50 of them Ussushkin fans that made the long way from Tel Aviv to watch an exciting aggressive battle in which Tohar Haimovitch broke a toe and cut his chin after a tackle with Eilat’s Aviel Yitzhak, and was announced as doubtful for the rematch. At the end of the game Hapoel returns with a slight advantage before the second match at home.

Trivia

• This is the second straight year where the teams meet at the Igud Cup. The last time was at the quarter finals.
• This is the first match for Hapoel playing at Eilat’s new home court.
• At the end of the match Tohar was taken to the hospital to saw up his chin.

Play-by-play

The match started evenly, Eilat made it clear to the reds it was not going to go down as easily as last year (97-53) , after 5 minutes the score was an even 9-9, at that point Eilat started to run away with the game. Hapoel stopped functioning on offense, missed at all range and lost many balls sloppily, Eilat played with alot of enthusiasm, broke again and again through the zone defense and scored 3 straight 3-pointers that led to a 20-11 lead before the end of the quarter, but a hapoel redeeming 3-pointer made it 20-14 at the end of the 1st quarter.

At the beginning of the second quarter we saw a determined Hapoel, just like in the last league game on Thursday. Hapoel started to apply pressure on defense, and forced many balls out of Eilat players hands. In the offense Matan started getting into a zone, hitting two 3-pointers and a couple of close up shots. Eitan and Tohar also ran the fast-break and Hapoel managed an impressive 25-6 run to go up to 26-36 lead, 4 minutes before the half. At that time Eilat seemd to wake up again while Hapoel went back to sleep. Ben-Yehoshua passed Lahat again and again to the basket, Aviel Yitzhak added a 3, and Pisazki made a crazy 3-pointer buzzer beater with both Eitan and Tohar in his face. Tries by Simhoni to improve the defense with Simhoni and Zamir were unsuccessful and Eilat were leading 38-36 and the end of the half.

Hapoel came to at the beginning of the 2nd half, and went up quickly to 44-40. Eilat however was alaways within range, with smart penetrations and good ball movement behind the arc that broke Hapoel’s zone defense and kept Eilat’s players open for easy 3’s. Also Eilat’s aggressive defense denied Hapoel’s usual run game. Rockney was again hampered by fouls and Inbar was not as effective in offense in his place. Zamir however made some important throws and Buchman’s defense managed to neutralize Ben-Yehoshua. 48-52 was the score 6 minutes into the quarter and at the end of the 3rd the score showed 59-64 for the visitors.

Eilat started the final quarter with intensity, and went up to a quick lead 67-66, form here on out it was a high tempered close game. Hapoel countered with a 69-72 lead of their own (after the officials tried to add a Hapoel basket to Eilat) and raised the lead again to a 69-75. by ,among others, a great Matan Naor alley oop and smart penetrations by Tohar, who seemed to wake up exactly on time. A frustrated Eilat reacted aggressively, including a hard foul by Aviel Yitshak on Tohar that threw him down to the floor, and resulted in a double technical as Tohar cursed at Yitshak. Eilat was able to close the gap back to 72-75, and the local crowd, some of which were constantly cursing behind the red’s bench, was on its feet. A minute and a half to the end and the lead was down to 2, 76:78. A score and a foul by Matan Naor made it 78:82 with 46 seconds to go, Eilat were unable to get another score until the end of the match, and Hapoel Ussishkin returns with a slight advantage for the rematch at home.

Statistics

Opening line up: Lahat, Naor, Haimovitch, Eitan & Rockni.

Hapoel: Matan Naor 25,  Tohar Haimovitch 16, Gal Eitan 12, Omer Zamir 10, Elad Inbar 9, Lahat & Rockney 4, Buchman 2.

Played and failed to score: Shwartzman & Simchoni.

Judges: Ilan Yablakovski, Natan Poznananovsky.

Game Description

This intriguing game between Hapoel Usishkin and Hapoel Hof-Hasharon (3^rd in the League), should have been played on February 6^th at Moshav Beni Zion. Even before the game started a fistfight started after the Hapoel fans put up banners that the Hof-Hasharon fans said were obstructing their view. The mayhap was big and Uri Shelf, Rami Cohen and Matan Naor all helped to restore order and calm. A compromise was achieved and the banner was moved to the right and all were happy.  

But the real chaos was yet to come. During the warm-up it was discovered that the game watch and the scoreboard are not functioning, despite numerous attempts to fix them. 20 minuets after the official tip-off time, it was decided to bring the clock from a neighboring Kibbutz. When the new scoreboard arrived it did not solve the problem. The Hof-Hashron people wanted to go to a third place to try and bring a new score board, but the referees decided to end the farce and 75 minuets after the game should have started they blew their whistles and ended the game. 100 red fans went home disappointed without seeing their team play.  

On Thursday of the same week took place a hearing at the Basket Ball Union disciplinary committee and it decided on a rematch on December 24^th. It also fined Hof-Hasharon 2500 shekels and it ordered them to cover the unnecessary expensive of Hapoel for the rematch. Hapoel arrived at the rematch at Kibbutz Shfa’im with 80 fans that face another 80 local fans, after a very tough game against Ramat-Hasharon on Saturday. Mentally the players were already in Eilat towards the important Egud Cup semi-final game. Despite all of this, on court Hapoel was determined and exploded on the pitch in the first half. Hapoel’s sub-players played for most of the second half and the game ended with a victory by a fare margin. The REDS are on route to Eilat with a clear mind.           

Trivia   

• The game was supposed to be played in Shfa’im, but was moved because of the large crowed expected to come and see the game.
• Since the establishment of Hapoel Usishkin this is its first game to be canceled.
• The Game was supposed to be played on February 7^th but was moved to Saturday because of the Hapoel TA football game.
• For the first time ever in the history of the team a Haly-Hoop move was conducted by its players. Lahat sent a magnificent pass to Laor
• Tohar Haymovtich appeared to the game for the first time without his trade-mark long hair, which he cut.

 

Play-by-Play

Hapoel opened the game with a storm. Yaron Lahat was unstoppable and Matan Naor, who returned after not playing against Ramat Hasharon due to an ankle injury, was hungry and came to do what he does best in the league. After 5 minuets Hapoel was up 14:1. Hof-Hasharon scored its first field basket only 3 minuets to the end of the quarter, which ended at the score of 27:9. The first quarter was dominated by Yaron Lahat who passed assists to his play mates and Matan Naor scoring from everywhere. Hof-Hasharon looked hopeless opposite the waves of  attacks by the red players and the Hapoel strong defense that caused them to lose ball after ball and throw very tough shots.   

 

The second quarter was more of the same. Hof-Hasharon, in its despair tried to stop Hapoel with fouls and 2 minuets into the quarter they had already 5 team fouls. Hapoel looked very determined to show that also opposite strong teams it can end a game with astronomical results and didn’t stop running and pressuring. Lahat scored from near and far, Tohar was in charge of the fast-breaks and Matan’s hands were on fire with 2 three-pointers. The icing on the cake was a magnificent haly-hoop. Matan sneaked behind the Hof-Hasharon defense caught the assist from Lahat (7 in the game) and slam dunked the ball. The scoreboard showed 47:22 three minuets to half time and a minuet and a half later it was already 52:26. Until the halftime wistle Hapoel let go a bit and allowed Hof-Hasharon to score two quick three pointers and the halftime score was 52:32.

 

Hapoel started the second half with its opening five, but after 2 minuets Naor was benched and did not return to play. Throughout the second half Couch Avrahami played with his 2^nd and 3^rd squads. Five minuets into the quarter the score was 56:38, but then Hapoel restarted to bash the stunned Hof-Hasharon. Sergey Olishinstki was caught with an un-sportsmanship foul and Tohar used this for four quick ones, on the way to a 13:2 run 69:40. It were Tohar and Inbar that were responsible for this run that included fast breaks and very strong defense. But then Hapoel cooled down. Avrahami sent to the court Shwarzman and Bochman that lost too many balls and also failed to give a defensive answer. The quarter ended just 69:51 to Hapoel.   

 

The final quarter was mainly garbage time. Hapoel played with its subs, Rokni was fouled-out and the game swung between a 16-20 margin. After 3 minuets each team scored just 5 points 74:56 to Hapoel.  Among the subs, Omer Zamir was shining, scoring from downtown and from close up 11 points preventing Hof-Hashron any hop of closing the gap. The game ended 76:94 to Hapoel that did not reflect the real professional difference between the teams. The red fans grumbled on the need for a rematch that ended very similar to a technical lose (20:0) that Hof-Hasharon should have received from the disciplinary board.        

 

Statistics

Opening five: Lahat, Naor, Haimovitch, Eitan & Rockni

Hapoel: Tohar Haimovitch , Matan Naor – 19 each, Yaron Lahat – 16, Omer Zamir – 11, Elad Inbar – 9. Yariv Rockni – 8, Yarden Shwartzman – 5, Gal Eitan – 3, Yonatan Alfassi – 2 Gilad Simchoni – 2

Played but failed to score Yiftach Bochman

 

Hof-Hasharon:  Sergey Olishnzkey – 16, Yoni Nazr , Rayne Lekser, Guy Barbiaro – 13 each, Shahar Nachmias – 6, Tomer Rabbinovitch – 5, Meir Bar-David – 4. Edo Amir – 3, Ram Sterlin – 1.  

The first game of the second round sees two teams with very sparse lineups and a light appearance by the Ussishkin crowd, all this coupled with the marked difference in the table position between the two teams (Galil coming from 9th place) did not interfere with a relativity tense game.

Trivia facts:

A crew form the sport channel made a piece about Hapoel Ussishkin during the game.

The two teams were missing many players. Galil appearing with only 8 players, while Hapoel were missing Gilad Simchoni, Yariv Rockny  and Gilad Inbar.

Yiftach Bochman played even though he was out of practice’s during most the of the weak because of an injury.

Galil appeared with a new coach Reuben Naiberger. As their former coach was fired a few days prior to the match.

Gameplay:

Hapoel started the game strong and went to an early 7:24 lead after 5 minutes, mainly due to a great performance by Tohar Haimovitz, and many ball losses by the Galil players. Hapoel seemed to let go as the quarter continued ending with a 16:32 lead for the home team.

In the second quarter it looked like Galil finally arrived to the game, lead by a barrage of 3-pointers from the excellent Shay Kadoosh and with good performance by Maoz Kahlon including a beautiful alley-oop, the fact that it was the worst quarter performance by Hapoel this season (only 9 points) also helped. Without the injured Inbar and with Haimovitz on the bench Hapoel looked lost and rivaled Galil with multiple stupid ball losses. Towards the end of the half the visitors came as close as 32:38 and also missed a 3 pointer that would have made it even close, Hapoel took the gift and 3 points on the other side of the court ended the half at 32:41.

In the first 5 minutes of the second half Galil still seemed in the game and the difference revolved around 12 points, with Hapoel still not able to dictate the rhythm even after Tohar was back on the court, however it was evident that Galil’s lacking physical form and short bench will show their marks and indeed towards the end of the 3rd quarter the red machine woke up. Gal Eitan and Haimovitz were everywhere and their fast-breaks sealed the quarter with a decisive 49:69.

The last quarter saw the scoreline at 59:92  at one point, signaling for the entrance of more bench players which Galil used to minimize the defeat and retain some of their honor. The end score was 70-92 for Hapoel.

Statistics

Hapoel starting 5: Lahat, Eitan, Haimovitz, Naor, Schwartzman.

Hapoel: Hamovitz – 24, Gal Eitan – 16, Matan Naor – 15, Yaron Lahat – 10, Omer Zamir – 10, Yarden Schwartzman – 8, Yakir Jersassi – 5, Yiftach Bochman – 4.

Played but did not score: Yonatan Alfassi.

Galil Elyon: Maoz Kahlon 18, Shay Kadosh 16, Matan Sonego 15, Lior Sarf 12, Ami Wolf 4, Nis Phalach 3, Artur Evronin 2.

Played: Moshe Rahamim.

Judges: Alex MAsherov, Yoav Lyuvshitz.

Towards the Game

A kind of “match of the year” between the two leaders of the two different districts of the Israeli 3^rd basketball league, as part of the quarter finals of the Igud Cup, which was also a rematch of last years semi final match. Petach Tiqva (PT) was back for revenge after their unexplainable loss last year. Both teams played after a one month break and both teams were rusty. This caused the game to be close from start until the near end. During the final quarter it seamed that PT will succeed to surprise Usishkin, but in the end and despite its weak performance (that reminded all of the poor performance in her last game before the break) Hapoel pulled through and advanced to the next stage. In the Semi- Finals Hapoel will meet, in a best of two games, Hapoel Eilat, whom Hapoel beat last year in the quarter-finals of the 2009 Igud Cup

Trivia

• Before the game started, Usishkin paid tribute to former players that played in the team in its first two years. Among them: Ofir Fox, Ze’ev Merk, Yoav Ber, Nir Galon, Ofer Na’im and Roei Goffer.
• This is the second time in two years Hapoel is facing PT, despite the fact the two teams never played in the same league.
• Both teams started the game unbeatable this year in both the league and cup games.

Play by Play

The game begun with a massive show of support by the red fans that pushed Usishkin to an early 8:2 lead with the help of Matan Naor and Tohar Himovitz. The PT players succeeded to come back and with a 3 point shot by Eyal Angel tied the score at 10:10. Until the end of the first quarter the game was equal, mainly due to PT missing easy lay-ups & free-throws and an endless series of missed three point attempts by the Hapoel players. The quarter ended at a score of 16:15 to the Reds.  

The second quarter was very similar to the first – Usishkin takes an early lead and PT bouncing back but failing to take the lead because of a terrible day from the free-throw line. The only affective offence player for Usishkin was Elad Einbar (man of the match). His three-pointer brought the score to 31:25. Until the end of the quarter there was a dual between Einbar and PT’s Nir Aloni and the half time scoreboard showed 37:30 to Usishkin.

At the beginning of the third quarter it seamed the game was all over as Hapoel with aggressive defense and a better choice of offensive throws had a 12 point lead. But from nowhere PT returned to the game with good offensive and defensive moves from Nir Aloni and Amir Darom and succeeded to tie the game. Coach Avrahami took a much needed timeout and the third quarter ended with just a 3 point red lead 54:51.  Every thing was ready of the final quarter showdown.

The home team started the quarter well 58:53. But then PT’s Eyal Angel with two 3 pointers and a free-throw lead a 10:0 PT run and at 6.5 minuets to the end of the game, PT was up by five 58:63.  Hapoel loked lost, losing many balls and  with an unexciting defense. Here came into play the Red Army Fans who begun pushing the team. An outstanding three pointer by point guard Yaron Lahat ended the red drought and the game was again tied 63:63 after a fantastic slam dunk by Naor, who decided to appear to the last quarter.

Here PT lost their concentration. One of the main contributions to this was a decision by the official Basketball Union supervisor Herman, who ordered the ref to send PT’s assistant coach to the stands after he saw him kicking Hapoel’s Gal Eitan. After 5 minuets of arguments the assistant coach was ejected to the stands were an argument begun between him and a Red supporter. This argument leads to a minor brawl between fans from both sides. The police quickly restored order and the game continued.

The PT players lost their concentration and the Red fan support caused the Hapoel player to “play” and begin playing as they know. Hapoel began playing very aggressive and useful defense. Naor blocked two important PT shots. This defensive aggression leads to a few quick fast-breaks and easy shots by Hapoel.

Two and a half minuets to the end of the game a dirty foul by a PT player on Naor leads Avi Cohen (PT) and Yariv Rockni (Hapoel) to a fist fight and both players were ejected from the game. From the incident with the assistant coach until the end of the game Hapoel over scored PT 20:5 and the game ended at the score of 83:68 and advanced to the Semi-Final match.  

Statistics:

Hapoel opening five: Lahat, Eitan, Himovitz, Naor and Rockni

Hapoel: Eland Einbar – 22, Gal Eitan – 19, Lahat & Naor 11 (each), Himovitz – 9, Bockman & Zamir – 4 (each) Rockni -2, Schwartzman -1.

Played but did not score: Simhoni. Jerassi and Alfasi.

Maccabi PT: Angel-26 (3 three-pointers), Aloni – 14, Darom – 8, Deri – 7, Blecher – 6, Cherna – 4, Cohen – 3. Also played Nadav Naor.   

 

Hapoel has travelled to Quiryat Motzkin for the closing game of round one.

300 fans have gathered for the intriguing match between the #1 and #2 ranked teams, and witnessed a game that did not reach a high level of basketball quality, even though it provided a lot of  interest and tension.

in the end Hapoel has celebrated again, and the opponent suffered its 4th loss of the season, as Hapoel continues to cruise towards the Liga Le’umit, without losing a game so far.

Trivia fact – this has been Hapoels lowest scoring game this season.

gameplay:

the game has opened with both teams being very close, and maintained that way throughout its whole course. 30 Hapoel fans in the stands hoped that the match would develop like the majority of the matches this season, and that Hapoel would break away to a promising lead, but the Motzkin team made it clear that the reds are in for a handful today. Shaked Shoham was amazing with a great performance under both baskets and Yariv Rokny just could not handle him. at the same time Yonatan Segal poured 3 pointers, and the other Motzkin players did not trail behind and impressed with hard long range shots.

The Motzkin coach Shay Minster got crazy on the sidelines and psyched his team, that appeared prepared and ready for Hapoel’s gameplan. Motzkin made switches on anything on defense and made Hapoel’s penetrations to become really difficult. with that, Hapoel’s main weapon – the fast break, was neutralized by a quick return to the defensive end by Motzkin, while coach Minster screaming and motivating his players.

Hapoel however, did not seem ready for Motzkin’s agressive game, and in periods in the 1st half, it looked like the players only wished for for the end of the game to come, and with it, 3 weeks of vaccation. the defense was lazy and gave the Motzkin players a lot of open shots from long range in the beggining of the game.

after 5 minutes the scoreboard showed 15-11 for the home team, Iftach Buchman entered the game, and brought a mini turnaround in Hapoel’s defense, which gave Hapoel the lead back. finally, thanks to good playing by Haimovitch Hapoel finished the quarter with an 18-17 lead.

The 2nd quarter was pretty much similar, with Naor being closed well by the Motzkin players, turning over the ball a lot, and missing a lot of three pointers, because of a wrist injury, among reasons. Elad Inbar came up from the bench for Rokny and used Shoam’s rest to help on both ends of the court. slowly Hapoel has got its game together, and finished the 1st half leading 36-31. on the last play of the 1st half, the fans witnessed a most bizzarre event, as Motzkin inbounded the ball under Usishkin’s basket and scored an easy 2, turns out the basket was not so easy by mistake, as Motzkin had 6 players on the court… inspite of Hapoel’s bench protests, the officials insisted they cannot call the basket off, but only punish Motzkin with a technical foul,  and gave Hapoel 2 free throws, which Haimovitch succesfuly converted.

Hapoel started the 2nd half quite well, increasing the lead to 9, with good defensive performance, plus a monster dunk by Matan Naor on the fast break, which left the 300 people in the stands shocked. just at this point Hapoel has stopped, and Motzkin began cutting the lead, with the local crowd’s help, getting the score to be 44-40 midway through the 3rd quarter, letting the reds know its going to be a tight game till the end. the margin left the same until the end of the 3rd quarter, 51-47 Hapoel.

the fourth quarter was more aggressive and temperamental. Rokny hit players on defense like theres no tomorrow, and the Motzkin players soon followed. every time Hapoel has opened a lead, Motzkin came back reducing it to 2. and even missed a chance to take the lead for the 1st time in a long time, missing a wide open three pointer. with important baskets from all ranges by young Omer Zamir Hapoel fought and kept the lead. Matan Naor scored the game’s big shot, a three pointer, making it a 7 point game, 3 minutes to the end. after that Motzkin finally gave up, Hapoel ran to 66-55, and a Motzkin 3 sealed the game, the final score being 66-58 Hapoel.

Hapoel are going on a vaccation with a perfect record, and the Liga Leumit looking almost clear in the horizon.

Statistics:

Starting line up: Yaron Lahat, Gal Eitan, Tohar Haimovitch, Matan Naor, Yariv Rokny.

Hapoel:  Matan Naor 18,  Tohar Haimovitch 16, Omer Zamir 13, Yariv Rokny 8, Yarden Schwartzman 4, Gal Eitan 4, Elad Inbar 2, Gal Eitan 1.

Played without scoring – Iftach Buchman

Officials – Enrico drzerzinsky, Dor Komemy

About 300 fans showed up to Hadar Yosef expecting to see a close game against the 3rd ranked team Makabi Hedera. Unfortunately for them it was a one sided event from the first whistle, ending with yet another easy win for Hapoel, who continues to run over the competition.

Play by Play:

Hapoel started the match in a frenzy with a great first quarter by the entire team as a whole and Tohar Haimovitz in particular, with the scoreboard showing 31-11 to the locals at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter starters were Matan Naor, Yiftach Buchman, Elad Inbar, Omer Zamir and Yarden Schwartzman. Schwartzman in probably his best game this year, started the quarter with a great move, and a his basket following a Yiftach Buchman steal gave the reds a 39-15 lead 3 minutes into the quarter. 4:00 from the end of the half a beautiful Ussishkin play pass by Haimovitz to Yaniv Rokni (coming in from the bench) put the score at 48-22. A small Hedera 5-0 run was stopped by a 3 pointer from Yaron Lahat. The half ended with a promising 54-31 lead.

The start of the second half was all about Matan Naor and Yaniv Rokni’s play’s this coupled with strong defense from Tohar gave Hapoel a 63-33 lead just 3 minutes from the whistle. The game a bit hectic at that point with a lot of turnovers from both teams, 5:12 to the end of the quarter the 30 points difference was still held, 67-37. 1:52 from the 4th quarter following a nice play by Hedera, Usishkin is on the offensive, Buchman’s hassle for a lost ball allows Inbar to draw a foul and sink the 2 shots from the line, making it 71:47. The last minute and a half were all Omer Zamir, following a Hedera 3-pointer, his 2 steals, assist and one basket led Hapoel to a 9-0 run ending the quarter with a 80 to 53 scoreline, favoring the reds.

The 4th quarter saw Gilad Simhoni, Yarden Schwartzman, Omer Zamir, Yiftach Buchman and Elad Inbar in the starting 5. Hapoel started just were they left off, with a Buchman steal combined with a great play from Zamir putting the reds at 85-53 with only a minute and a half passing form the beginning of the quarter. 6:57 to the end a beautiful “slant eye’d” pass form Simhoni leads to an easy basket from Buchman, Rokni and Lahat with two 3-pointer’s continued the rout, and 2:12 form the end of the game the score was 103-65. 1:30 before the whistle an unsportsmanlike foul on Tohar yields only 2 points from the line. The end scoreline shows 109-67 continuing Hapoel Ussishkin’s great record.

Statistics:

The starting five: Yaron Lahat, Gal Eitan, Haimovitz, Matan Naor & Rockni

Hapoel: Tohar Haimovitz 21, Yarden Schwartzman 14, Matan Naor 13, Omer Zamir 12, Gal Eitan 9, Yariv Rockni 9, Yaron Lahat 8, Elad Inbar 8, Yiftach Buchman 7, Yakir Jersey 6, Jonathan Alfasi 2.

Played but didnt score: Gilad Simhoni.

Judges: Assaf Margalit and Yosef Gross.

A decisive victory to the Ushiskin reds on our northern guests that arrived with a few players less, due to injuries, and were no match except for the first minutes at the beginning of the first quarter. The game was pushed forwards to Saturday at 20:00 to create a linkage with  the legendary fans football tournament – The “Yetzurnir” that was held on the same day and ended at 18:00.

Trivia:

• This was the second highest victory score wise of Hapoel Usishkin since it was established.
• Former Hapoel Tel-Aviv player Ziv Tavor, played for Maccabi Kiryat Bealik

Play by Play:

Hapoel Usishkin opened strongly, but Bealik succeeded to draw 14:14, due to three pointer shots. But from here onwards Matan Naor and his mates opened a 9 point gap and the first quarter ended in a score of 27:18.

From the beginning of the second quarter there was only one team on the pitch. And by the end of the second quarter the gap grew to 35 points and the half time scoreboard showed 62:27. The Kiryat Bealik players lost their coolness, especially Ziv Tavor the “Red Head”, who picked up four personal fouls and was benched until the end of the game.

The second half was only played for the record and the third quarter ended with a record 39:91 advantage. Bealik lost all interest in the game but Hapoel continued to play. In the last quarter coach Avrahami played with his third squad and the final score was 114:57.

Statistics:

The Opening Five: Yaron Lahat, Gal Eitan, Haimovitz, Matan Naor & Rockni

Usishkin: Gal Eitan 20, Tohar Haimovitz 19, Matan Naor & Gilad Simhoni 13 (each) Elad Inbar 11, Omar Zamir 9, Yarden Schwartzman 8, Yaron Lahat 7, Yariv Rockni 6, Yakir Jersey 4, Yiftach Buchman 3, Jonathan Alfasi 1.

Bealik: Yigal Nir 23, Liran Svartzoold & Charlie Fahima 12 (each), Ziv Tavor 5, Lior Tamir Smai & Sheila 2 (Each), Harel Schechter 1 .

Judges: Benny, Marco, Etai Michovic ‘

Hapoel traveled to Rehovot to face Maccabi Rehovot in a deciding game for qualifying to the next stage of the Israeli Union cup (the 3rd and 4th leagues cup).

The game also signified a closure for Hapoel star Matan Naor who played as a youth for Rehovot, and got a warm welcome back.

Rehovot, 4th in the Liga Artzit south conference ,proved no match for Hapoel. In the end with a spectacular display of basketball the reds thrashed Rehovot 129:87. 450 spectators at the Amit court in Rehovot.

The game started off with both teams lacking on the defensive side. After 5 minutes the score was 23:23, with some worried faces on the Hapoel side. Coach Avrahami switched the lineup to shorter quicker players to pressure Rehovot all over the court, with Buchman on to take car of Liperman, the Rehovot leading player.

This change gave way to Hapoel exploding with a 16:0 run til the end of the quarter. From here on the gaem became one0sided. Hapoel ofensive breaks tore down the Rehovot defense, Naor with two beatiful dunks, and Zamir 3-pointers closed the 1st half at 70:47 to Hapoel. the 3rd quarter continued on the same note with an astounding 104:68 to Hapoel.

In the 4th quarter Avrahami let his starting lineup rest, and the game finished with a nice dunk by Buchman, followed by him performing the Hapoel gesture to the delight of the 150 red fans in the stand.

Hapoel beat Hapoel Kfar Saba/Kohav Yair yesterday at home 81:55 in round 8 of the 3rd division. 350 spectators at Hadar Yosef.

Kfar Saba were 3:4 before this game, so it was supposed to be an easy match. Surprisingly it wasn’t. 1st quarter ended 17:15 to kfar saba, horrible capablit y from our side offensively.

First half ended 37:30 to our side, mainly due to Tohar Haimovich finishing off great counter attacks. Kfar saba stayed in the game due to 6 3-pointers (0 on our side).

Second half was much easier. Matan Naor finally woke up, started scoring 3-pointers, Buchman added some great defense, Gal Eitan helped Tohar on on the counter attacks, Kfar Saba ran out of energy and we finished off the game on the 3rd quarter (60:41).

Some pictures
http://www.facebook.com/#/album.php?aid=126954&id=827647953