Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 89-81 as Yam Madar and Vasilije Micic starred in the win to sweep the semifinal series and punch their ticket to the finals. Both sides played a tight contest throughout the first thirty minutes of action as Nimrod Levi, Jared Harper and Ethan Burg kept the capital city reds in the game, but in the final frame, Madar, Micic along with Chris Jones were able to pull away and chalk up the victory.

Micic scored 26 points and Madar added 22 points in the win while Levi scored 22 points and Harper scored 16 points in the loss.

Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis spoke about the win, “We were the best team in this series and we played against a good and well coached team. We kept winning the rebound battle and the 50/50 balls. We tried to limit their scoring in transition as they are one of the best at doing that. Ultimately we wanted it more.”

Jerusalem bench boss Yonatan Alon looked back at the defeat, “You can never be happy after a loss and it’s disappointing that the season is over. This was a very tough season and a tough loss, we saw some great players hit some great shots. It really hasn’t bothered me that the team has another coach lined up and everyone was very open with the situation.”

Yam Madar talked about the victory, “I’m really happy and we knew the pressure was going to be on us but we did the job. I am working hard and I bereave in myself and my abilities and my teammates are amazing. We are ready for the final and want to do something special. Micic is an incredible player and it’s amazing to have him next to me on the court.”

Vasilije Micic and Tomer Ginat found points for Hapoel Tel Aviv while Nimrod Levi and Khadeen Carrington got on the board for Hapoel Jerusalem as the hosts grabbed a slim 21-19 lead after ten minutes of play.

Yam Madar opened the second quarter from deep, Dmytro Skapintsev scored at the other, Carrington and Oz Blayzer traded triples, while Madar and Blayzer both kept pouring in points to give Dimitrios Itoudis’s team a 41-36 lead at halftime.

Nimrod Levi and Madar went back and forth to get the third quarter underway, Jared Harper and Micic traded triples, Ish Wainright and Levi did the same, Eitan Burg and Justin Smith filled the basket, Micic came back with a pair of buckets as the game headed into the final frame knotted up at 66-66.

Ginat, Chris Jones and Micic all scored to begin the fourth quarter, Levi and Harper went from deep, but Jones went from the outside and inside as did Madar to close out the series and send the reds to the finals.