Maccabi Tel Aviv (8-5) suffered their fifth Winner League defeat of the season, succumbing 59-71 (13-17, 18-20, 17-13, 11-21) to second-placed Bnei Herzeliya (8-4) on the road.
The team coached by Giannis Sfairopoulos is 7-11 in the EuroLeague after Round 18 and now -having dropped to third place in the standings- they also seem to lose touch with Israeli league leaders Hapoel Jerusalem (9-3) as well.
Maccabi did not dress Ante Zizic, Angelo Caloiaro and James Nunnally for that game, choosing Scottie Wilbekin, Keenan Evans, Kam Taylor, Derrick Williams and Jalen Reynolds as their imports.
Nevertheless, the game was all Herzeliya from the start. The hosts managed to impose their rhythm and paced by Andie Van Vliet who led all scorers with 21 points, captured a relatively comfortable win.
On the other end, Maccabi shot 5-of-26 from behind the arc, with Scottie Wilbekin being the most counter-productive. The experienced guard went 3-of-11 from the perimeter and despite being his team's first scorer, his efforts were fruitless.
Jalen Reynolds was the only one following in double digits (11) for Maccabi who are hosting same-placed Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz next Thursday.
Bnei Herzeliya: Andy Van Vliet 21 (8/12 FG, 3/3 FT, 3 REB), Chris Babb 16 (4/15 FG, 4/4 FT, 3 REB, 5 AST), Chinanu Onuaku 14 (6/15 FG, 1/2 FT, 11 REB), Shawn Dawson 8.
Maccabi Tel Aviv: Scottie Wilbekin 13 (4/15 FG, 3/3 FT, 1 ST, 2 TO, 1 AST), Jalen Reynolds 11 (5/13 FG, 1/2 FT, 8 REB, 4 TO), Roman Sorkin 9 (8 REB), Yiftach Ziv 7.
Full game highlights:
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