Bnei Herzliya defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 87-82 to capture the Israel State Cup in a heated back and forth battle at Yad Eliyahu. Chinanu Onuaku starred for the winners with a tremendous MVP performance with 30 points, 17 rebounds and an efficiency rating of 50 to help Herzliya to their first Cup victory since 1995.

Hapoel Tel Aviv set the tone early with baskets from J’Covan Brown and James Young, but Onuaku, Shawn Dawson and Chris Babb were able to cut an almost double digit lead down to just 39-37 after twenty minutes.

Both teams had their long distance shooting shoes on in the third quarter as the two squads teamed up to hit 3-pointer and 3-pointer from Gil Beni to JP Tokoto for Danny Franco’s team to Sandy Cohen and Quinton Hooker to give Oren Aharoni’s side a slim 66-64 advantage at the end of the period.

The final frame saw fierce end to end action with Brown, Tokoto and Timor dialing it up from long distance to take a 79-77 lead with 3:44 left in the game but Dawson, Hooker and Onuaku took the bull by the horns and finished off the game with a 10-0 run to take home the State Cup.

Onuaku led the way with 30 points, Dawson added 16 points, Chris Babb put in 13 points and Hooker chipped in 12 points in the win. Brown and Young scored 21 points while Tokoto added 14 points in the loss.

“It was a great game and a terrific State Cup Final with amazing baskets from both teams, 3-pointers and buckets form every which way,” winning coach Oren Aharoni said. “We were the underdogs coming in but we have been working hard with a great group of guys. We had issues with our shooting going 2/14 at the start of the game but we came back with some great plays. I’m very happy for the club, the city and everyone else here who is involved with the team.”

Yair Kravitz, the Bnei Herzliya captain was very emotional after the victory, “I cried. I’m so happy and we want to win titles. I’m fortunate to be in the right team to do just that. We are going through a terrific time with this group and we are working hard.”

“I’m proud of my players as to how they came into this game and how they took this club to this point with our amazing fans,” Franco said. “We had only a day and a half to prepare and maybe we could have done better, we made some mistakes on the court and Herzliya hurt us as they are a very good team while we are too. Hapoel Tel Aviv is a big club.”

Hapoel captain Bar Timor spoke about the devastating defeat, “There were small details that we didn’t do which cost us and we should have been ahead by much more in the first half. It’s disappointing.”

James Young scored on the inside and from the outside to get Hapoel Tel Aviv on the board early on in the first quarter while Sandy Cohen and Chinanu Onuaku answered for Bnei Herzliya as the Reds lead 7-6 midway through the period. Idan Zalmanson and JP Tokoto scored for Hapoel while Herzliya missed a number of open shots from both in the paint and from beyond the arc. Shawn Dawson finally scored a 3-point play for Oren Aharoni’s squad, however, a long two from J’Covan Brown bumped up the Reds lead to 21-12 after ten minutes of play.

Chris Babb went in for a pair of layups to begin chipping away at the Hapoel lead to open the second quarter while Young went from downtown and Tokoto hit a jumper as Danny Franco’s team stayed in front 26-20 with 6:45 left in the first half. Dawson hit a corner 3-ball, but Brown immediately matched him while Gil Beni also dialled up long distance but Onuaku went in for a layup and one. Tokoto scored from beyond the arc, Brown hit a midrange, Andy Van Vliet scored his first basket of the game on a layup while Quinton Hooker nailed a 3-pointer for Herzliya as the half ended with Hapoel in front 39-37.

Zalmanson drilled a midrange to begin the third quarter, Babb responded with a 3-pointer, Onuaku scored in the paint, Hooker went from deep, Sandy Cohen added a basket while Babb went from downtown yet again as Herzliya grabbed a 50-43 lead midway through the frame.

After picking up his fourth foul, Young went from downtown, Onuaku answered with a 3-point play, Brown and Young drilled home triples but Cohen and Hooker did the same for Herzliya as they stayed in front 61-54 with 3:44 left in the period. Young went for a corner 3-ball, Timor did the same and then fed Josh Owens for an alley-oop but Dawson went from deep to keep Herzliya ahead 66-64 after thirty minutes of action.

Brown got the fourth quarter underway with a basket, Onuaku came back down the court with a dunk, Cohen cleaned up the garbage off a miss, Tokoto went from the corner and Timor checked in from distance as the game was all knotted up at 72-72 with 7 minutes left in regulation time. Onuaku and Dawson scored from the inside, Brown and Timor found points at the other end and Egor Koulechov got a corner 3-pointer to give Hapoel a 79-77 lead with 3:44 left in the period. Onuaku made a pair from the charity stripe, Dawson went in for a layup, Onuaku put in points while Hooker did as well to comeback and win the State Cup.