Hapoel Gilboa Galil defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 81-71 thanks to a fantastic shooting performance by marksman Tzuf Ben Moshe to move into the Winner Cup quarterfinals where they will face Maccabi Tel Aviv on Tuesday night in Hadera. After a close first half which saw the hosts lead 40-36, Lior Lubin’s squad came storming back to grab a 57-53 lead after thirty minutes of action. However, Rami Hadar’s team led by Ben Moshe and Justin Gorham put up a 28-14 final frame to take the double-digit win.

Ben Moshe led all scorers with 22 points including 5 triples paced Gilboa, Rashard Odomes added 15 points and 9 rebounds while Joshua Patton checked in with 12 points in the win. Ben Moore was Beer Sheva’s high scorer with 16 points, Tidjan Keita chipped in with 12 points and Joaquin Szuchman scored 11 points in the loss.

Game MVP Tzuf Ben Moshe spoke about the game that was, “My teammates found me and I was happy that my shots went in, next up is Maccabi Tel Aviv. We will listen to what Rami tells us to do in that game and play our best.”

The sniper continued, “I played under Rami when I was 18 years old at Hapoel Tel Aviv and I really like him a lot. We have good team here but there are things we have to work on including rebounds, defense and chemistry but that will come in time, so far so good as I really like playing here and things are going well for me. I hope that we can go all the way.”

“I was very happy with the fight that we showed although not so much with the basketball,” Rami Hadar said following the win. “We showed character although we had some issues with Josh Perkins and Justin Gorham’s foul trouble but we were able to get the win.”

Hadar also spoke about the game’s MVP Ben Moshe, “Tzuf knows how to do certain things really well when the team can play to his strengths. He is also a good defender and always brings energy, it’s a pleasure to coach him.”

As for where he feels the team can finish the season, Hadar didn’t want to make a firm commitment, “I don’t want to say anything about where we will be at the end of the season it’s early. I am happy that he thinks we can go all the way, but I except to be in the area of 1st to 6th place.”

Beer Sheva coach Lior Lubin commented about his team’s loss, “Lots of tings didn’t go our way as they play a very specific style. They closed off the rebounds and we didn’t have a lot of 3’s. We were ok in the middle of the game but we didn’t play well in the last quarter. We have a lot to learn and even if we spoke about it we now experienced it. We are missing some help under the basket and we are still looking.”

Hapoel Eilat slipped by Nes Ziona 76-73 as a late game collapse sealed the visitors fate to send the Red Sea city squad into the Winner Cup quarterfinals where they will ready to play Hapoel Jerusalem on Friday afternoon. DJ Cooper (13p/8r/12a) and Tyler Bey (24p) helped pace Elad Hasin’s team over the course of the game but Jared Terrell (19p), Eric Griffin (15p/10r), Amit Gershon (14p) along with Netanel Artzi (10p) all came through late to steal the victory.