Davon Jefferson celebrated with 28 points over the team from the city of wine, getting his team back on the winning track.
Effi Birenboim’s team with a second loss in a row.
NRG Maariv
February 6th, 2010
By the opening of the season, Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion complained about the tough lottery they got, after opening with a series of games against HaPoel Jerusalem, maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv, which, as it turned out, has caused them a bad season opening.
Effi Birenboim managed to stabilize his team and gain four wins in a row
But the first round ended, and after visiting Malcha last series, Maccabi Haifa reach “Maccabi House” in Rishon Le’Zion today (Saturday), winning by 81:95.
The Oranges once again suffered a very series problem in the defense rebound.
The Greens from the Carmel stormed on every rebound, and therefore managed to gain precious points while frustrating Erez Markovitz (weak game) and his partners, who have worked overtime on defense tonight.
A legitimate team in the Premier League, as the hosting team has known for quite a while, must be able to close down for a rebound, even if it comes on the expense of a quick outbreak to burst ins.
On Haifa’s side, they are starting a countdown when it comes to Davon Jefferson.
At this pace, no. 5 of the Greens will not be there next year.
Tonight, he added another double-double to his private collection of excellent performances, as he plainly burned out the defenses all alone, guarded excellently and did not give Rishon Le’Zion any chance to get back in the game.
The Carmel team wanted to prove that the weak performance against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Nokia was just a little stumble and tonight it achieved an extremely important win, with Galil Elyon awaiting it on the next round.
Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion will have to search for its next win only in two weeks, as it seems, since it is going to meet Maccabi Tel Aviv on the next round.
PHOTO CREDIT ; THE BSL
Duration of the Game
Rishon Le’Zion opened the game excellently, leading with 2:8 after three minutes. Haifa did not panic, stated playing inside and a 2:14 run raised it to a lead.
The local Larry O’Bannon, who opened the game well, buried in a three-pointer which shrunk down the score to 13:16.
Jason Rich opened the game excellently and he is already with 6 points.
The first quarter ended with a 17:22 to Maccabi Haifa.
The guests continued running on the opening of the second quarter as well, reaching a 19:28 lead after 2.5 minutes into the second quarter.
Davon Jefferson was only warming up, scoring 9 points by now.
Aaron Maggie held Rishon Le’Zion with 8 points.
4 minutes to the end of the quarter, mainly thanks to the offense rebounds, the Greens are leading with 29:35.
Effi Birenboim called timeout which awakened his players a bit, as they managed to shrink down the score to 43:39 by halftime.
Rishon Le’Zion opened the third quarter with four quick points, evening out the score and getting the local crowd on their feet.
Haifa ran forwards again and a dunk by Jeremy Tyler has set 50:56, 3:45 to the end of the quarter.
The Oranges failed again and gain trying to take an offense rebound, and the third quarter ended with 63:69 to the Greens.
The fourth quarter continued with Davon Jefferson’s concert, who just did as he pleases on the court, and the hosts couldn’t do anything with him. 66:77 to Maccabi “Jefferson” Haifa, 6:30 to the end of the game.
Haifa pressed down on the gas a bit more, rising to 75:88, 2:45 minutes to the buzzer.
Birenboim called a timeout, trying to save the situation, but nothing has changed.
81:95 to Haifa by the end.
PHOTO CREDIT : THE BSL
Scored for Rishon Le’Zion: Aaron Maggie 25, Larry O’Bannon 18, Rod Grizzard 16, Ben Shimol 15, Meir Tapiro 4, Johnson 3.
Scored for Haifa: Jefferson 28, Rich 18, Ben David and Kozikaro 11 each, Hajaj 10, Roby 7, Pellot-Rosa 6, Strong 2, Tyler 2.
Ashkenazi: When Roby Does Defense, He will get Some Minutes
Effi Birenboim: “We were short today and there was also the foul problem we got into during the game which made it hard on us.
When we have a leading player missing it is well felt.
I hope we do not suffer any more injuries, this is the most important thing.”
Avi Ashkenazi about benching Richard Roby: “When he plays better on defense, he will get more minutes.
I don’t think our losses to Jerusalem and to Maccabi Tel Aviv were constitute deterioration.
We won an important game.”
