Basketball: Jerusalem, Galil Elyon/Gilboa move into 1st

Jerusalem came good in the final quarter to down Hapoel Holon 91-81 at Malha, while Galil ran riot in an 86-63 road win at Maccabi Rishon Lezion.

By ILAN EVYATAR
Hapoel Jerusalem 248.88 (photo credit: Asaf Kliger [file])
Hapoel Jerusalem 248.88
(photo credit: Asaf Kliger [file])
Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Galil Elyon/Gilboa moved to the top of the standings after match-day 6 of the BSL Sunday night. Jerusalem came good in the final quarter to down Hapoel Holon 91-81 at Malha, while Galil ran riot in an 86-63 road win at Maccabi Rishon Lezion. In the night's other game, Ironi Ramat Gan came back to beat Ironi Kiryat Ata 85-82 in overtime for its first win this season. BSL champion Holon and State Cup holder Jerusalem were meeting for the first time since last November when a security guard was severely injured by a flare thrown from the stands at Malha. Point guard Yuval Naimi came off the bench to pace Jerusalem with 27 points, including 9 of 13 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Tim Bowers added 15, while Roger Powell added 12, all in the final quarter. Moran Roth, playing against his previous team for the first time, scored 2 points and made 3 turnovers. Luis Flores led Holon with 22 points, including 4 of 4 from three-point range, and Chris Withers had 19 points and 7 rebounds. The first three quarters were neck and neck, with Roth sinking a basket from the post to give Jerusalem a 43-40 lead at the interval. Uri Kokia hit a triple to put Holon up 63-60 going into the final period. But there was only one team on the court in the fourth quarter. Triples from Powell and Omar Sneed sparked an 11-0 run by the hosts, and that was too much for Holon to come back from. Jerusalem improved to 5-1 and stretched its winning streak to four. Holon dropped to 3-3. Brian Randle was on fire from three-point range as Galil Elyon cut short Rishon's revival with an 86-63 win. Playing at Rishon's home arena for the first time, last season's championship-winning coach Miki Dorsman had hoped for a second-straight success since taking over from Ziv Erez. But Randle scored 23 points with 3 of 3 triples, and Oded Katash's team improved to 5-1. Brian Roberts added 16 and Elishay Kadir scored 11. Robert Conley paced Rishon's effort with 19 points, and Gili Mosinzon added 18. Rishon fell to 1-5. Ironi Ashkelon hosts Maccabi Tel Aviv on Monday night to complete match-day 6. The game will be Pini Gershon's first in charge of Tel Aviv in the BSL after his third-coming at Maccabi was marred by a losing start against Malaga in the Euroleague last week. In Saturday night's games Maccabi Haifa got its campaign back on track with a 71-61 win over Nahariya, and Bnei Hasharon claimed its fourth straight league win, defeating Maccabi Givat Shmuel 79-68 on the road.