After the painful loss in the cup final last Thursday to Hapoel Jerusalem, Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to the winning track yesterday (Sunday) after leaving Jubilee Hall with a handsome 76:99 away victory over Bnei Herzliya, which returned Oded Ketch's apprentices to the top of the Winner League table.
After a tight first quarter, the yellows opened fire and ran to a double-digit lead that effectively decided the match.
The gap that grew throughout the evening allowed Ketch to divide the minutes between all the rotation players, when Jake Cohen, who did not play at all in the cup final, took advantage of the minutes he received and led the scoring list with 19 points.
"After the loss on Thursday, the challenge was double beyond the professional challenge, to play against a good team in an away game. There was also a mental challenge because we went through a big disappointment," Ketch shared at the end.
"The players and my team reacted well to this matter. It was definitely very challenging. From the middle of the second quarter we made some adjustments and attacked their zone much better, we prevented them from the running game."
During the game, Guy Panini set a historic milestone when he became the winner league's all-time leader in appearances with his 512th game in the regular season, passing Meir Tapiro.
"It was important for us to recover and play a good game after the loss in the cup, it was a painful loss for us as a club and as a team," Panini shared his feelings at the end.
"It's great fun to break the record, I grew up in this industry as a child and playing basketball is the thing I like to do the most, to do it the most times is a great honor. I never dreamed of reaching this number and this record, I want to continue like this and enjoy it."
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