Tomer Ginat showed exactly why he was the number one Israeli target over the summer as he helped lead Hapoel Tel Aviv by Hapoel Jerusalem 76-71 in a tight battle to advance to the Winner Cup Final. The Reds forward was all over the court as he scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds while going 9/11 from the floor including a pair of baskets down the stretch to take the victory.

Hapoel Tel Aviv started off strong as Xavier Munford and Ginat got busy but Speedy Smith and Khadeen Carrington kept Hapoel Jerusalem in the game down by just one, 37-36 at halftime. J’Covan Brown and JP Tokoto started to get into the game in the second half as Carrington tried to keep Jerusalem close, however, Ginat found points late in the fourth quarter to wrap up the victory.

Ginat paced Hapoel Tel Aviv with 19 points, Xavier Munford added 12 points, JP Tokoto chipped in with 11 points while Bar Timor contributed 9 points and 4 assists in the win. Khadeen Carrington was Jerusalem’s high scorer with 27 points, Speedy Smith added 21 points while Zach Hankins pulled down 14 rebounds in the defeat.

“I’m happy as to how we played this game,” Tel Aviv coach Danny Franco said. “While it wasn’t a terrific game from us, it was one that saw us play against a tough, aggressive and physical team which is important as we are continuing to improve. We had some ups and downs and we didn’t do well on the rebounds but we had some very good possessions as well. Now I’m just working on getting the team ready for our first league game next Friday.”

“I’m not satisfied with the way we were playing on offense,” Aleksandar Dzikic, Jerusalem’s bench boss said. “We are better team when we find a good balance between the low post and pick and roll screens and we didn’t find that balance. We weren’t surprised as to the level of their ball pressure, they were very close to us and I won’t make comment about that. But we were not playing well and while we created a lot of open shots, we just missed them.”

The game MVP Tomer Ginat reflected on the win, “We are focusing on ourselves and we played aggressive defense. Sometimes we have these moments where we don’t play as tough as we should and we have to correct that. We took a good step here and hopefully we will continue to improve.”

Oz Blayzer spoke about the game from his point of view, “These are things that can happen at the start of the season and we missed plenty of shots. We are still trying to put together our lineups but we are still at the beginning of the campaign.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv got off to a quick start as Xavier Munford went from deep and JP Tokoto scored on the inside, Speedy Smith filled the basket to get Hapoel Jerusalem back into the game but Bar Timor nailed a triple and added a layup to give Danny Franco’s squad a 25-15 lead after ten minutes of play.

Jerusalem chipped away at the lead as Khadeen Carrington got to work on the outside and the inside to pull to within a pair of points, 29-27 midway through the second quarter. Munford and Tomer Gjnat tried to open up the gap again but points by Carrington and Smith kept Aleksandar Dzikic’s squad close as Hapoel Tel Aviv stayed in front 37-36 at halftime.

Itay Segev and Speedy Smith scored for Jerusalem while JP Tokoto and Ginat did the same for Tel Aviv as the game continued to heat up. Carrington hit a pair from deep but J’Covan Brown found his stroke from outside while Ginat continued to score in the inside to give Hapoel Tel Aviv a 55-50 lead after thirty minutes of action.

The final frame got off to a frantic pace with points by Timor, Tokoto and Adam Ariel from deep as Or Cornelius and Carrington answered but Tel Aviv kept the lead 64-57 midway through the period. Ariel went again from downtown but so did Carrington and Oz Blayzer for Jerusalem, however, Ginat scored a pair of crucial baskets and Brown added one of his own to salt the game away for the Tel Aviv reds.