Maccabi Tel Aviv easily beat Bnei Herzliya 89:105 this evening (Monday) at the Menorah Mittehim Hall, taking the fourth and last ticket to the semi-final status of the State Cup, with the help of a great game by Rafi Manko who led the list of scorers for the yellows.
Three days after the painful loss in Greece to Panathinaikos as part of the Euroleague, the Yellows returned to the local arena and played for the entire pot as part of the cup, and had no difficulty overcoming the trophy holder without Chris Babb on the way to the next stage, in a game that was one-sided for many minutes.
Oren Aharoni's players began their title defense campaign and met Oded Ketch's Yellows in the first stage for an intriguing reenactment of the matchup between the two teams from last season in the semi-finals of the playoffs, when the modest group from Herzliya eliminated the Tel Avivs after a 1:2 victory in the series.
On the eve of the match, the guest announced that the one who will not take part in the side match is the team's star Chris Babb, who is suffering from a wrist injury and did not take part in his team's training this week.
In his absence, Aharoni looked for another player to take command of the attack and lead his teammates and he got it from Morris Kemp, but his superiority alone was not enough.
The two teams met as part of the league only about a month ago, when Herzliya won after extra time at the Menorah Mivathim Hall, thanks to another performance by Kemp and Chris Babb, but this time things looked different and did not go as they had hoped.
The yellows started the game better and, thanks to good minutes in defense, rose to a promising double-digit lead of 18 points already in the middle of the second quarter.
The cup holder had a hard time finding defensive solutions for the yellow attack and conceded 59 points already at halftime.
In the second half, Ketch took advantage of the situation to give minutes to other players who were not involved in the Euroleague weekend, and received 17 points from Rafi Manko, who led five scorers in double figures.
Photographs: Alan Shiver
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