Hebraica y Macabi didn’t wait around for a feel-out period. A 26-15 first quarter set the tone, and the home side carried that edge wire-to-wire to beat Malvín 84-73 Friday at Unión Atlética in Liga Uruguaya regular-season action.

In a game that opened with identical records (both 14-8) and clean injury reports, the separation came from two places the box score makes hard to ignore: Hebraica’s early offensive punch and a decisive rebounding advantage that kept Malvín from generating enough extra possessions to erase the gap.

Game flow: the first-quarter gap never closed

Hebraica y Macabi won every quarter except the fourth, and the early margin did the heavy lifting:

Q1: 26-15
Q2: 21-17 (Hebraica led 47-32 at halftime)
Q3: 21-22
Q4: 16-19
Final: 84-73

Malvín’s best push came after halftime, taking the third quarter 22-21, but the problem was structural: the deficit was built on a first-half where Hebraica controlled the scoreboard and the possession battle. Even with a slightly better finish, Malvín never produced the sustained run required to flip the game.

Possession battle: Hebraica’s rebounding covered for turnovers

Hebraica y Macabi won the glass 41-28, a massive edge that helped stabilize a night where it coughed the ball up 17 times. Malvín had fewer turnovers (12) and more steals (8 to 5), but the rebounding gap muted the value of those extra takeaways—especially in a game where Malvín’s half-court offense struggled to generate efficient looks from deep.

That dynamic also fits the broader profiles coming in: Hebraica’s recent sample showed a stronger rebound percentage (52.3% over its last 10 analyzed games) than Malvín (46.5%). Friday’s 13-rebound advantage was the on-court version of that pregame indicator.

Shooting: Malvín’s three-point volume didn’t translate

Malvín leaned heavily into the three-point line (23 attempts) but hit just 5. Hebraica made more threes (8) on 28 attempts, and those extra makes mattered because Malvín didn’t pair its perimeter volume with enough overall scoring to offset the early hole.

At the line, Malvín was solid (16/20), but it needed those free throws to keep the game within range. Hebraica’s 12/14 at the stripe was efficient enough to protect the lead without having to win the foul game.

Playmaking and pace: Hebraica steadier despite the giveaways

Hebraica finished with 16 assists to Malvín’s 11, another subtle but important separator. Even with 17 turnovers, Hebraica created more assisted offense—an outcome that aligns with its high assist-rate profile in the provided advanced sample (84.2%). Malvín’s assist rate in that same sample was also strong (86.4%), but Friday’s 11-assist output reflected a night where the ball didn’t consistently create clean advantages, especially from three.

Context that mattered: rest, splits, and the pregame signal

Both teams came in equally rested—11 days off, no games in the prior week—so fatigue wasn’t a differentiator. Location and trend lines were.

Hebraica entered averaging 85.3 points in its home split, while Malvín’s away split showed 76.5 points. The final (84-73) landed right on top of those scoring expectations. And while the CPI matchup leaned toward Malvín on paper (49.17 CPI, rank 7 vs. Hebraica’s 44.45, rank 10), the trends were moving in opposite directions: Hebraica’s trend was positive (8.2) while Malvín’s was negative (-3.6). Friday looked like a team with upward momentum jumping on one still searching for consistency.

What it means

Hebraica y Macabi got the kind of win that travels well into the rest of the regular season: build a lead with early execution, survive the messy parts (17 turnovers), and win the possession game with rebounding. For Malvín, the path forward is clear in the numbers—if the three-point line is going to be a high-volume weapon, the conversion has to be there, because the margin for error shrinks when you lose the glass by 13.