Hapoel Tel Aviv — Ironi Ness Ziona: 79:76, League Cup

Hapoel Tel-Aviv secured a narrow 79-76 victory over Ironi Ness Ziona in the League Cup on Friday, October 3rd. The hosts started the tournament with two wins from two games, while the visitors had suffered two defeats. It was a result that kept the home side's perfect record intact.

We had given the hosts a 68 per cent chance of winning, and the match delivered on that assessment. The three-point margin felt right for a contest where both sides traded blows without either pulling clear for long. To be fair, the visitors stayed in it until the final exchanges.

Hapoel's advantage came from distance shooting. They hit seventeen of their forty three-point attempts, compared with just eight from twenty-eight for Ironi. The hosts also recorded twelve assists to fourteen for the visitors, while committing only seven turnovers against nine. Their block count of four to two told a similar story of interior presence.

Ironi Ness Ziona controlled the glass more effectively, grabbing forty rebounds to thirty-one, with nine offensive boards to five. They also shot better from the field, making twenty-eight of sixty-three attempts against twenty-four of sixty-one. But those extra possessions and higher accuracy could not bridge the three-point shooting gap.

The result extends Hapoel's unbeaten run and leaves them top of the table after two matches. Ironi remain third, still searching for their first point in the competition. The visitors had won four of their last five games before this tournament, but the league cup has been a different matter so far.