Hapoel Gilboa Galil easily disposed of Hapoel Holon 99-65 at Gan Ner in the Galilee to force a winner take all decisive game three on Thursday night in Ashdod. After a close first ten minutes, the hosts rattled off 69 points thanks to a tremendous offensive outburst from Michael Young (18 points/8 rebounds), Akil Mitchell (16 points), Tim Coleman (15 points), Amit Gershon (15 points), Joe Thomason (13 points) and Iftach Ziv (13 points/10 assists) over the following two periods to cruise to the 34-point win. Guy Pnini was Holon’s high scorer with 11 points.

Hapoel Gilboa Galil got off to a hot start as they took a 10-2 lead midway through the first quarter a Akil Mitchell was the main focus of the offense with half a dozen points early on. Shavon Coleman jump started the Holon attack with points and Guy Pnini hit a triple with Yotam Hanochi’s hand right in his face to rip off a 12-0 run to go up 14-10 with a little over three minutes left in a frantic first frame. Uriel Trocki scored from the inside but triples by Tim Coleman and Gil Beni helped the hosts trim the lead to 22-21 after ten minutes.

Michael Young scored a pair of baskets and Coleman went deep twice for Gilboa Galil to open the second quarter as Lior Lubin’s squad grabbed a 36-27 advantage with 6:17 left in the first half. Iftach Ziv and Mitchell teamed up on a thundering alley-oop, Coleman cleaned up a miss, Amit Gershon hit a triple and Ziv made a pair of layups to give the hosts a 57-41 lead at halftime.

The third quarter opened with Young scoring a variety of ways, in the paint, midrange and beyond the arc as he racked up a quick 10 points to give Gilboa Galil a 71-46 lead midway through the frame. The hosts continued to run wild as Joe Thomasson scored a number of easy layups, Netanel Artzi found the bottom of the basket as did Gershon from long distance to take a 89-54 advantage after thirty minutes.

The fourth quarter saw both teams clear their benches as Gilboa Galil took the 34-point win as the squads will meet again on Thursday night for the right to play in the Final Four.