By Amy Samin

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv crushed Maccabi SCE Ashdod at Nokia Arena, 93-66 in a make-up game from week 4 of the Israeli Winner Sal League. Sylven Landesberg led all scorers with 19 points, Guy Pnini added 14 points, and Jake Cohen contributed 13 points. Shawn James pulled down 11 rebounds. It was the first game in a Maccabi uniform for Yuval Naimy (5 assists), Ben Altit and Arad Harari. Sofo, Devin Smith and Joe Ingles all got the night off.

Maccabi's starters were team captain Shawn James, Tyrese Rice, Ricky Hickman, Sylven Landesberg and Jake Cohen. Ashdod looked focused in the early minutes of the game, grabbing a 6-2 lead after three minutes. But Landesberg was simply unstoppable, scoring nine straight points to give Maccabi the lead halfway through the period. With three and a half minutes left in the quarter, Yuval Naimy entered the game, playing for the first time for Maccabi. He immediately started handing out dimes, including two to Alex Tyus who made it 21-12, Maccabi with a minute on the clock. The period ended with the score 21-16.

The second quarter got underway with a bucket and 1 for the visitors that made it a two point game, but David Blu served up one of his classic catch and shoots from the right corner (assist Naimy), Rice added points in the lane and Landesberg added another triple to his stats, and after two and a half minutes Maccabi led 29-20. Maccabi continued to move the ball well while keeping Ashdod under wraps on offense - halfway through the period Maccabi's lead had grown to 38-20. Ashdod did their best to keep the game from becoming a rout, but Jake Cohen added a nice mid-range baseline jumper and points off a dish from Tyus to send the teams into the halftime break with Maccabi leading 46-32.

James slammed in a one handed dunk (assist Landesberg) at the start of the third quarter, but Ashdod managed to stop the hosts from building a strong run. Halfway through the period the score was 53-40. Landesberg added yet another trey, and Guy Pnini scored in the paint. Points by Naimy closed out the quarter with Maccabi leading 67-49.

Pnini dominated the start of the fourth quarter, scoring six straight points to put Maccabi's lead at, then over, twenty - 73-51. Cohen added two straight buckets (one from downtown, assist Naimy, and the other off a dime from Ben Altit). Pnini also scored from outside the arc, as did Altit. Arad Harari came into the game for Maccabi and added a bucket of his own, and one last three from Pnini closed out the game, giving Maccabi a 93-66 victory over Maccabi  SCE Ashdod.

BOXSCORE
Maccabi: Landesberg 19 points; Pnini 14 points, 3 assists; Cohen 13 points; Rice 9 points;  Hickman 8 points, 5 assists; James 7 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks; Tyus 7 points, 7 rebounds; Ohayon 5 points; Blu 4 points; Altit 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block; Naimy 2 points, 5 assists; Harari 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist.

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