Bnei Herzliya slipped by Hapoel HaEmek 92-90 as Chinanu Onuaku scored the winning basket after having mounted a double digit fourth quarter comeback to take the stunning win and punch their ticket to the State Cup final. Sharon Avrahami’s side controlled the game from the get go as Kyler Edwards and Niv Misgav paced the offense, however, Yehu Orland’s team with Onuaku along with Max Heidegger, Elijah Stewart and Denver Jones were able to cut down the gap over the course of the final frame.

Onuaku and Heidegger scored from deep to knot the game up at 90-90 as the former put in a layup with 10 seconds left to take the lead while Edwards last gasp shot to snatch the win came up short sending Herzliya to the final where they will meet Maccabi Tel Aviv for the right to hoist the cup.

Herzliya Head Coach Yehu Orland summed up the victory, “Anyone who looked at the stats saw that we led for 40 seconds the entire game, but they were the right 40 seconds. The character of this team is special. I’m very proud of that. As for the final against Maccabi Tel Aviv, I don’t think you can learn much from the league game we had against them. Onuaku didn’t play and they’ll also have to make adjustments for him. We scored 107 points then, but they scored 115 and both they and we were different teams. I’m sure the score won’t be like that this time. Maccabi is obviously a very high-quality team.”

HaEmek bench boss Sharon Avrahami spoke about the defeat, “This is a tough loss as we led throughout the entire game. We were one successful possession away from closing it out. That possession came with 2:30 left, when they grabbed two offensive rebounds and scored. It’s a very tough loss, but that’s basketball. Things like this happen to teams bigger than us. Onuaku hit three 3-pointers and I think until now this season he was 3/21. You also have to give credit to Herzliya for what they did.”

Max Heidegger looked back at the win, “The fans helped us a lot. I’m speaking on behalf of the players when I say that we really love the city of Herzliya and the atmosphere they give us here on a daily basis. We’re playing on Thursday for the cup and it’s clear that Maccabi will have tremendous crowd support. So I’m calling on all of our fans to come to the final and support the team, to help us win.”

Kyler Edwards reflected on the loss, “We played a great game until the last two minutes, but we lost. We didn’t manage to play our game. It hurts, but that’s basketball. As for the last shot, it was a great shot, the kind I like to take and would take again.”