The Israeli Men’s National Team suffered a 94-54 defeat for the 3rd matchday of the 5th group in the qualifying phase of the 2027 World Cup, in a match that took place at the Spyros Kyprianou Stadium in Limassol, behind closed doors, with Israel as the usual home team.
For our team, which tried harder in the second half, Philippos Tigas and Panagiotis Pavlidis scored double digits with 12 and 11 points respectively.
Israel played two very good first quarters, managing to create a margin of safety ahead of the sequel. Our National Team was close to the score until the 5th minute, when Stylianou made the difference to three points with a three-pointer (11-8), but then there was a streak of seven points to open the score in double digits for the first time in the 6th minute with Ariel’s shot (18-8). The first period ended with two points by Madar (32-15).
Things got even more favorable for the Israelis in the second quarter, during which they increased the difference to 35 points (58-23).
In the third quarter our representative team had a better individual score, scoring 16 points against the Israelis’ 13, to close the period with 71-38, while in the fourth period Israel increased it by eight points (94-54).
Cyprus and Israel will meet again, in the same stadium, for the 4th matchday of the qualifying phase, next Sunday, March 1, at 19:00.
TA DECAL: 32-15, 58-23, 71-38, 94-54
Israel (Ariel Beit-Halahmy)
Αriel 8, Carrington 11 (2), Szuchman 8, Timor 4, Madar 22 (5), Bayzer 2, Dolinski 10 (2), Hanochi 4, Zalmanson 7 (1), Artzi 8, Yaacov 6, Palatin 4
Cyprus (Christophoros Livadiotis)
Loizidis 2, X. Giannaras, Pasialis 4, Michael 8, Jung 7, I. Giannaras 3 (1), Koumis 4, Papamichail, F. Tigas 12 (1), S. Tigas, Pavlidis 11 (1), Stylianou 3 (1)