Hapoel Afula defeated Hapoel Holon 86-76 in overtime in one of the season’s stunning comebacks that helped give Ariel Beit Halachmi’s team a bit of breathing room from the bottom of the standings.

Mike Davis Jr. and Justin Alston found points early on for Hapoel Holon, J’Covan Brown and Justyn Mutts responded for Hapoel Afula but Michale Kyser with a pair of dunks, DJ Cooper with some buckets along with triples from Iftach Ziv and Netanel Artzi gave the purples a 45-27 lead at halftime. Cooper kept hitting from deep while Artzi scored, JP Tokoto and El Ellis began to fill the bucket for the hosts during the third quarter but Noam Avivi added points from beyond the arc and Eyal Harel scored on the inside to lead Afula on a 14-0 run to begin the final frame.

Tokoto and Ellis continued to score while Avivi’s late 3-pointer sent the game into overtime knotted up at 72-72. From there, Tokoto, Ellis and Brown all scored with ease in the extra session to take the shocking comeback victory.

Tokoto and Brown each scored 19 points while Ellis scored 17 points as Mutts scored 12 points and Avivi 11 points in the win. Artzi scored 14 points, Alston put in 13 points as Davis and Cooper each scored 12 points a piece in the loss.

Ariel Beit Halachmi spoke about the comeback from his point of view but before he began he spoke about Avi Zilberman who passed away, “First I want to say something about Avi Zilberman who I’m sure would be smiling if he saw these baskets. I’m sure he would be proud of this, he was my agent and that of many players.

“This was a very important win and I’m thrilled about it. The first half we were very nervous and we turned the ball over many times but we spoke about calming down at halftime and that’s what we did. We were able to tie the game up from there. The guys really gave it their all and they really believed in it. We were able to comeback play by play and we need every player in this squad in order to do such things, the Israelis were there in the money time, Eyal Harel gave a really great game on both sides of the floor.”

“We started very well and played properly but whatever we were afraid of in the second half occurred,” Holon coach Guy Kaplan said. “We lost ball after ball and we lost the rebound battle from there we ended up losing the game. This can always happen and the gaps can close quickly. I tried to calm things down and stop the snowball effect and what we did well in the first half the opposite occurred in the second.”

Noam Avivi spoke about the win, “it’s hard to really comeback and chase but with our squad everything is possible and I’m happy that we were able to get the win. This was one of the best games I’ve played. It’s an incredible feeling when you see the ball go in and you can’t even describe it after practicing so much. I just want to keep working and do what I need to to help the team.”

Netanel Artzi looked back at the loss from his point of view, “At halftime we spoke about what can happen and how we wanted to make sure we would be ready for the playoffs, but credit to Afula they wanted it more and they really took us out of our rhythm. We can’t look like that. We played so well in the first half and Afula just changed their play and we lost it. The snowball began and it can’t happen, I can’t accept it and we have to talk to everyone and they all have to look at themselves in the mirror.

“Hapoel Holon can’t look like this and there are expectations we have to show that we are at the top and this can’t happen, this is a reds light ahead of the playoffs. We want to win every game, we are pros and tomorrow is a new day. I want to apologize to everyone who came here, they don’t deserve this.”