Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion shocked Hapoel Tel Aviv 82-74 as Amin Stevens starred in the sensational victory. With the win, the wine city squad can close out their best-of-3 quarterfinal series on their home court at Beit Maccabi on Tuesday night.

Tai Odiase, Vasilje Micic and Yam Madar scored for Hapoel Tel Aviv but Amin Stevens, Gabe Devo and JJ Kaplan responded for Maccabi Rishon as the reds held a slim 45-43 advantage at halftime. Qua Grant turned on the offense in the third quarter to help Guy Kaplan’s team to a 67-55 lead but Madar and Micic began to fill the basket in earnest in the final frame to take a slim lead. However, Stevens, Chaunce Jenkins and Gabe Devo all scored down the stretch to take the stunning win.

Stevens scored 27 points and grabbed 10 boards, Devo added 14 points and Grant scored 12 points in the victory while Madar scored 20 points, Micic put in 16 points and Odiase scored 12 points in the loss.

Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion Head Coach Guy Kaplan reflected on the win, “It’s a great source of pride to make so many people happy. We’re involved in sports, the players give everything they have, there’s an incredible crowd here and it’s a lot of fun. I don’t think we’ve really accomplished anything yet. In the end, yes, it’s an impressive win, but we may have just woken up the beast. I have enough experience to know what could happen on Tuesday. We’ll enjoy the moment, but in a couple of hours we’ll already be thinking about what’s next so that we can be a worthy opponent on Tuesday.

“We defended well and found a defensive solution, not through tactics, but through toughness. We were right up in their jerseys; that’s our DNA. Hapoel is a big club with pride and very clear goals. They’ll come much more focused next time and we’ll have to adjust and show that we’re even more aggressive and prepared.”

Hapoel Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis summed up the loss, “Congratulations to Rishon. They put a lot of pressure on us and we also put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We shot very poorly in the second half 1/12 from 3-point range. The fact that they got to the loose balls, that they wanted them more, gave them extra possessions and that hurt us badly. Clearly there is a mental aspect involved; it happens with every team. As I said, it’s 1-0 now and we have to build character.”

Amin Stevens, who was the MVP with 27 points and 10 rebounds, was emotional after the game and said, “It’s an amazing feeling. These are the kinds of games are what we practice for. It feels so good. We have a team full of guys who aren’t afraid of anything and that’s how you can beat anyone. It’s basketball; the coach put together a game plan and we followed it. Part of wanting to win in the playoffs is also living in a bit of a fantasy, you have to believe you’re better. Everyone wants a championship and to win one, you have to believe a little irrationally. This is only the beginning, it’s just one game, and we need to stay humble.”