Perkins, Maccabi drop heartbreaker (Basketball)
Top-seeded Maccabi Tel Aviv couldn’t have designed a better first half for today’s Israeli League Final.
The team played beautifully and carried the play, getting a bucket from Anchorage guard Doron Perkins right before the end to push the halftime cushion to 50-42.
It looked like the player from the 49th state would lead Maccabi to its 49th Israeli League title.
But it didn’t happen.
Despite a strong game from Perkins, Maccabi vanished in the second half and suffered a shocking 90-77 loss to upstart Galil Gilboa, a team that finished seven games behind the league champs during the regular season.
On this day, however, the team from Tel Aviv must have left its scoring touch in the locker room after managing only 27 points in the third and fourth quarters combined.
Perkins, of Bartlett High fame, came off the bench to deliver 14 points and seven assists in an effort that landed him a place on the All-Final Four team.
If only he could have gotten some help.
Then maybe he’d have a championship ring.
