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Simmons' Early Revenge
Safsal
,10/08/2009 |
Tre Simmons, who spent the last season on Maccabi Tel Aviv's bench, scored 24 points and led Jerusalem to an 86:80 win in "Winner Cup" final over his former club. Anderson scored 26 for Maccabi, but none in the final period.
Complete Boxscores from the entire Tournament
Only in Israel, a pre-season tournament can provide such amazing atmosphere. Half stadium was painted in red, the other half in yellow and both teams forgot that the season is 2.5 weeks away. All they wanted was winning the first trophy of the season.
Alan Anderson proved once again he's in a great shape and with 14 first-quarter points led Maccabi to an early 25:11 lead. Jerusalem looked lost and it seemed that coach Pini Gershon will cruise to the only title he still hasn't won.
But then the momentum shift for the first time. Jerusalem scored the last 7 points of the quarter and couldn't stop running until the break. Tre Simmons nailed 14 points in the second period against his former team and Jerusalem ran 39:10 to take a 50:35 halftime lead, after another three by Tre from 9 meters with the buzzer.
Guy Pnini, in his first game against the red's since departing last summer, led a 23:2 run in the third quarter that brought Maccabi from 17 behind to a 63:59 lead, while Anderson has 26 already.
The final quarter was a crazy see-saw, with the lead changing back and forth. Pnini put the yellows up 73:72 with an 8-meter shot clock buzzer-beater, but immediately fouled out after a careless foul.
Eidson and Thompson exchanged downtown makes, before Simmons, who hasn't scored since the 2nd period buzzer, stepped up with back-to-back three-balls which chagned the momentum for good. Thompson, who held Anderson scoreless in the final 10 minutes, extended the lead to 6 with a reverse-dunk, and it was all over, 86:80 Jerusalem.
Simmons was voted MVP of the tournament with 24 points, Thompson added 18 with 10 boards and 4 steals, Naimi 16 (7 AS) and Lyons 12. Anderson had 26 and Pnini 16 in a losing cause.
Complete Boxscore
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Simmons. Tourney MVP |
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