The Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team, fresh from its European Cup Club championship victory, defeated the United States Maccabiah team, 91 to 83 in an exhibition match here at Queens College last night. Maccabi Tel Aviv was led by Aulcie Perry, who scored 29 points, and Lou Silver, who scored 20. Perry is a veteran of the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association; Silver is a graduate of Harvard University.
The U.S. Maccabiah Team, which had just three practices under head coach Sam Stern before the match, was led by Hal Cohen’s game-high 31 points, Dan Schayes’ 16 points and Willie Sims’ 12 points and seven assists. The U.S. team led through most of the game and held a 79-76 lead with about five minutes remaining. Maccabi Tel Aviv went on a 15-4 spurt, however, to close out the game.
“It was a close game all the way and I think we could have won with more practice and with our full contingent of players,” said Maccabiah’s Schayes, a graduate of Syracuse who recently was drafted in the first round by the NBA’s Utah Jazz. A National Collegiate Athletic Association ruling prevented the U.S. Maccabiah Team from using any undergraduate players, thus blocking the participation of such talents as Alan Dolinsky and Adam Cohen who will accompany the team when it leaves for Israel to compete in the 11th Maccabiah as the defending champions.
Hal Cohen, a graduate of Syracuse who now attends medical school there, shot 14 to 21 from the floor and added five assists to his game-leading points. Sims, an alumnus of Louisiana State University who was drafted by the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, shot just five for 20 but created numerous scoring opportunities with his crisp passing.
Perry had a game-high 12 rebounds for Tel Aviv while Silver and Howard Lasoff chipped in with nine rebounds each. Shuki Schwartz also aided the team’s effort with 16 points. Maccabi Tel Aviv next heads for Brazil to compete in the World Cup Club Championships. The U.S. Maccabiah Team leaves for Israel on July 3. The 11th Maccabiah runs from July 6 through July 16.
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