Hapoel Tel Aviv got by Hapoel Holon 72-68 as Marcus Foster was unstoppable from downturn throughout the second half to help the reds notch the win. The purples grabbed a slim lead early on as Jalen Adams and Michale Kyser carried the hosts, but Oz Blayzer and Bar Timor kept Stefanos Dedas’s team hanging around down 36-33 at halftime. Marcus Foster started to heat up to begin the third quarter while Marcus Bingham and Idan Zalmanson answered for Holon, but Foster kept scoring at will to take the victory.

Foster scored 23 points, Timor added 12 points and Blayzer out in 11 points in the win. Adams scored 16 points as Bingham and Kyser scored 10 points each in the loss.

“It was a very physical game and both teams played very good defense,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Stefanos Dedas said. “We didn’t play well offensively but because of the defense we were able to stay in the game. We also went with bigger lineups with three forwards which gave us presence in the paint. I want to thank Holon for the honor as to when I was here as a coach and it was very nice.”

“We fought hard with the right energy and we were there on both sides of the court,” Hapoel Holon bench boss Guy Goodes said. “The game was Marcus Foster and hit some huge shots, it was one player that made the difference, we did everything that we could but just came up a little short.”

Bar Timor looked back on the win, “It’s been a while since we won here in Holon and once again we had a tough game and the guys from the bench really made the difference. I want to shout out to Oz Blayzer and Guy Palatin who did some great things off the bench and I want to acknowledge them for that. It was the small things that really helped us win the game. It was rebounds by Palatin, steals by Ish Wainright and we stopped them on the pick and roll plus Foster hit some big shots.”

Netanel Artzi reflected on the defeat, “We came really prepared defensively and sometimes one player can hit some tough shots and make the difference, that’s basketball and I’ve seen it before. We knew the importance of this game and we used our tools to give everything we could and we prepared as we do for every team and we were able to control the situation until the end but as much as you plan sometimes one guy can make such a huge difference.”

Jalen Adams went from downtown and scored off the glass to get things rolling for Hapoel Holon, Patrick Beverley and Bruno Caboclo scored in the paint for Hapoel Tel Aviv, Michale Kyser dunked while Tomer Ginat scored at the other end Antonio Blakeney and Idan Zalmanson traded buckets, Adams and Iftach Ziv went from deep to give the purples a 17-15 lead after ten minutes of play.

Zalmanson drained a 3-pointer form straight away center field to begin the second quarter, Oz Blayzer put in a 3-point play and then drained a corner 3-ball, Bar Timor went from deep, Blayzer scored again but a dunk from Kyser halted the reds run as they took a 26-23 lead with 5:13 left in the first half.

Elijah Mitrou-Long put in his first points and added a triple, Kyser dunked and Adams scored a deuce, Beverley went in for a layup, Bingham took a Ziv pass for a bucket in the paint and closed out the half with points to give Holon a 36-33 advantage.

Marcus Foster drained a quartet of triples in under two minutes to get the third quarter underway, Netanel Artzi, Bingham, Adams and Ziv responded, Noam Yaacov scored but a Zalmanson triple put Guy Goodes’s team in front 54-49 after thirty minutes of action.

Timor drained a corner 3-ball to start off the fourth quarter, Adams came back with points, Bingham put in a 3-point play, Blayzer scored from deep, Foster came in off the wing for a layup to knot the game up at 59-59 with 5:28 left in regulation time. Artzi cleaned up a Ziv miss, Foster put down a tomahawk dunk and added another basket, Caboclo scored in the paint, Mitrou-Long did the same, but Foster drilled home a triple to close out the win.