Hapoel Jerusalem advances to State Cup semis as Tel Aviv clubs fall in Europe

Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv, advancing to the Israel State Cup semifinals as Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv faced defeat in Euroleague basketball games.

Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 93-83 as Jared Harper starred in the victory to advance to the Israel State Cup semifinals.

Antonio Blakeney, Vasilije Micic, and Dan Oturu helped Hapoel Tel Aviv grab a 22-21 lead after the opening quarter, but Harper, Khadeen Carrington, and Cassius Winston ripped off a 10-0 run to end the quarter that gave Hapoel Jerusalem the upper hand at halftime (44-42).

Tomer Ginat, Ish Wainright, and Micic helped Dimitrios Itoudis’s Tel Aviv team open up a seven-point lead in the third frame, but Justin Smith started to score in bunches for Jerusalem while Winston also found points to keep the capital city side in front 66-60 after 30 minutes.

Harper began the final quarter on fire, and while Blakeney and Oturu tried to keep Hapoel Tel Aviv close, Carrington and Winston continued to fill the basket, and Austin Wiley scored as well to help Jerusalem close out the game.

Harper scored 24 points, Winston added 18 points, and Smith put in 15 points in the win, while Blakeney scored 22 points, Otutu scored 16 points, and Micic chipped in with 14 points for Tel Aviv in the loss.

Jerusalem coach Yonatan Alon spoke about the win.

“It’s so much fun to play these types of games. I really like my players, the way they play, and how they react on both sides of the court. We did what we needed to after a tough period of time, and they did the job that needed to be done. This win is a total team victory from the players to the entire staff and management.”

Tel Aviv’s Itoudis discussed the defeat.

“Congrats to Jerusalem. This was another target we can’t chase, but we have two more targets that are very important. We managed to have a lead but lost the margins very quickly. I need to study the game; in such a close game, free throws are a huge disparity between the teams, a 22 free-throw difference is huge.”

Israeli teams in Euroleague

Over in Euroleague play, Hapoel Tel Aviv fell to Bayern Munich 79-64 as the Reds had no answer for the German squad, which did as it pleased for the majority of the game to chalk up the victory. The loss dropped Tel Aviv to third place in the standings with a 16-8 record.

Next up for Hapoel is a double week, where it will play at Red Star Belgrade and at home versus Valencia.

In Spain, Maccabi Tel Aviv came up short at Valencia 94-83 as the yellow-and-blue couldn’t hold on to the lead that it built over the course of three frames as Jean Montero and Kameron Taylor helped the hosts complete the fourth-quarter comeback.

Maccabi will now get ready for a pair of continental clashes – at home against Partizan Belgrade and then on the road at Red Star in Serbia.

“We knew that we had to be focused for forty minutes against Valencia,” Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Oded Katash began.

“We played better in the first half and played the right way offensively. We were there for three quarters, but you have to play 40 minutes and stick to the game plan. We lost our minds a bit in the fourth quarter for a few minutes, and that cost us the game.”

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