By Gilad Foldash, Shai Levi and Lee Nof
7:40pm March 14th, 2010
Maccabi Haifa used Jerusalem’s loss well and beat another opponent to the top of the table, Brak Netanya, with 75:89, and achieved an exclusive second place on the table.
Avi Ashkenazi’s protégés dominated nearly throughout the whole game on the way to a seventh home win in a row.
Haifa opened the game better as Ido Kozikaro and Dror Hajaj lead it to a 1:6 lead.
A very good defense of the guests and their good ability on the offense rebound turned the tables with a 0:6 run.
The two teams presented a confused game, full of mistakes that were expressed by the great number of foolish missed shots and ball losses.
Up until the end of the quarter, there was a swing of baskets, with the each team leading on and off.
Davon Jefferson raised Haifa to a 15:17 lead about twenty seconds to the end of the quarter, but a surprising three-pointer by Lior Chachmon got the teams off by the end of the first quarter with the guests leading 17:18.
Haifa’s defense continued to look bad by the opening of the second quarter, and Netanya took advantage of it in order to rise to a 19:25 lead.
A basket from half court by Jason Rich and a three-pointer by Moshe Mizrahi lowered down the lead to one point, getting the sleepy crowd on their feet in Romema, but Lior Chachmon and Marco Killingsworth have left the lead at the guests as they dominate under the baskets.
Haifa went on to its main man, Davon Jefferson, and the excellent forward got the lead back to the hosts with great personal moves.
Another three-pointer by Mizrahi and points by Ido Kozikaro raised Haifa to a 31:37 lead, and Arik Alfasi called timeout in order to stop the local run.
Killingsworth got back from timeout with a easy basket in the paint zone, but the last word on this half was of Haifa, which got off to halftime with 33:40.
The course of domination of the locals continued by the opening of the second half as well, as Davon Jefferson raised Haifa to a first double-digit lead on the game (33:44).
Killingsworth, Washam and Pinnock got Netanya back to only 5 points behind, but Ashkenazi’s team quickly returned to a double-digit lead thanks to two three-pointers of Jesse Pellot-Rosa (4 out of 5 from the three at this point).
Haifa continued riding on the waves of the momentum, running off to a top lead of 16 points (45:61), as Davon Jefferson juggled and did as he pleased on the court.
By the end of third quarter – 50:64 to Haifa.
Against all odds, the guests from Netanya returned to the game on the fourth quarter.
Alfasi’s team tightened up its defense and used the relative limpness of Haifa’s defense in order to gradually shrink down Haifa’s lead.
A great move by Tony Younger and a three-pointer by Toni Washam lowered down Haifa’s lead to 69:74, with 4:30 minutes left for the game.
Things started warming up as Ido Kozikaro got pissed off due to a foul by Lior Chachamon, but the referees calmed down the old center quickly, finishing off the incident with no technical fouls.
A fifth three-pointer by Pellot-Rosa got the color back to Ashkenazi’s face.
A layup by Jason Rich got the crowd on their feet and DAvon Jefferson, with two foul shots, got the locals back to a double-digit lead, ensuring Avi Ashkenazi’s 100th win as coach in the Premier League.
Scored for Haifa: Jesse Pellot-Rosa 22 points, Davon Jefferson 19 points, Jason Rich 18, Ido Kozikaro 11 points and 10 rebounds, Dror Hajaj 7 points and 7 assists, Moshe Mizrahi and Mamadou N’Diaye 6 points each.
Scored for Netanya: Marco Killingsworth 21 points and 9 rebounds, Toni Washam 20 points, Danilo Pinnock 11 points and 7 assists, Tony Younger 5 points.
