JERUSALEM, June 13 (Xinhua) — EuroLeague basketball side Maccabi Tel Aviv achieved an 84-76 home win over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the opening game of the Israeli Super League best-of-three final series on Thursday night.

A full house of 11,000 fans at the Menorah Mivtachim Arena in south Tel Aviv saw a tight first quarter end 26-25 in Hapoel’s favor, mainly thanks to points by Xavier Munford.

Josh Nebo scored high percentages in the second quarter to give last season’s champions Maccabi a 43-38 lead at halftime, but Bar Timor and Tyler Ennis led the Reds to even things up in the third quarter, which ended 60-60.

In the decisive quarter, Lorenzo Brown and Bonzie Colson ensured Maccabi the derby win with crucial points.

Colson topped Maccabi’s scorers with 18 points, alongside seven rebounds. Nebo logged 15 points and nine rebounds for the Yellow-blues.

Munford scored a game-high 20 points for Hapoel, while his teammate Jaylen Hoard contributed 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Game 2 of the final series will be played Saturday night at the Shlomo Group Arena in northern Tel Aviv.