Maccabi Tel Aviv won the national basketball championship for the 47th time Thursday night after beating Hapoel Jerusalem 80:78 in a nail-biting final.
Jerusalem led most of the game, but surrendered to a clutch 4th quarter performance by Tal Burstein (15 points) and a winning basket by Jamie Arnold (10 points) with 2.2 seconds remaining.
Photo: Yoad Cohen
Maccabi, who had a less-than-stellar Euroleague season and was ousted by Bnei Hasharon in the cup semi-finals, entered the fourth quarter down nine, but controversial calls by the officials helped cut Jerusalem’s lead and eventually tie the game 77:77 with 47 seconds to go.
Maccabi's Jamie Arnold takes it to the hoop (photo: Eli Elgarat)
Hapoel’s star center (16 points) Mario Austin drew Nikola Vujcic’s (13 points, 10 rebounds) fifth foul, but made only one free-throw. Maccabi played for the final shot, but Sharon Shason (11 points) missed a three-point attempt. Hapoel’s big men failed to box Arnold out, and Jerusalem’s dream of a first-ever championship title came to a heartbreaking end.
RSS
