Basketball / Errant tip-in gives Jerusalem the win

Hapoel Jerusalem won a 90-88 nail-biter yesterday over Bnei Hasharon after a Bnei Hasharon player mishandled the rebound of a last-second jump shot. Five Jerusalem players scored in double digits as Hapoel took a 77-61 lead with nine minutes remaining, but Bnei Hasharon roared back, only to lose on a rather bizarre play.

After Ori Ichaki gave Bnei Hasharon the lead at 88-87 on a three-pointer, Yuval Naimi sent off a desperation trifecta attempt at the buzzer. The ball bounced out, but Bnei Hasharon's Ugonna Onyekwe errantly tipped the ball back in to give Jerusalem the victory.

Coach Guy Goodes called Onyekwe's miscue the "little hand of God."

The win tied Jerusalem with Netanya, which fell from the unbeaten ranks in a 91-83 loss to Hapoel Afula.

Elsewhere, Maccabi Tel Aviv rolled past Ramat Gan 88-61 at home to remain unbeaten and take sole possession of first place. Barak Netanya suffered its first loss of the season, losing in Ashkelon 84-82. Gilboa/Galil will try to keep pace with Maccabi tonight.

Maccabi coach Pini Gershon yelled at his players at the end of the first half, during which the team displayed a lackluster offense and looked anything but focused, yet held a 38-29 lead by sheer talent. His players responded by opening the third quarter with an 18-6 run to put an end to any doubt about the game's outcome.

Raviv Limonad and Chuck Eidson led Maccabi with 14 points apiece, and Eidson also made five steals.

Danny Gut, Ramat Gan's coach, guaranteed after the game that we would change his starting line-up ahead of his team's next contest against Hapoel Afula.

After last night's debacle at home, Afula may be looking to make some changes of its own. Afula committed 19 turnovers and had trouble containing center Shawn Taggart, who dominated with 22 points. Both teams are now 2-2, except that Afula has now lost two in a row while Nahariya is on a two-game roll.

Barak Netanya fell from the undefeated ranks in a mistake-ridden game with Ashkelon. Omar Sneed stuffed Kevin Braswell's attempt to win the game in overtime for Netanya, running down the court and finding Moran Roth, who seemed to travel as he scored the winning basket.