Hapoel Haifa downed Hapoel Jerusalem 73-71 as Gregory Vargas’s clutch shooting along with a James Ennis 3-pointer as time wound down secured the victory. Jerusalem jumped out to an early lead as Retin Obasohan and KC Rivers paced Yotam Halperin’s squad but an inspired Vargas and Amit Simhon helped the Elad Hasin’s team to a 38-30 advantage at halftime. Spencer Weisz and Kadeem Allen kept Haifa in front after three quarters, but Obasohan closed the gap, however, buckets by Vargas and a key corner 3-pointer by newcomer James Ennis sewed up the 2-point win.

Vargas led the way for Haifa with 20 points, Spencer Weiss scored 11 points while Allen and Simhon added 10 points a piece in the win. Obasohan paced Jerusalem with 23 points, Suleiman Braimoh added 17 pointers and KC Rivers scored 11 points in the loss.

Hapoel Gilboa Galil squeaked by Hapoel Eilat 97-94 in overtime after coming all the way back from 20-points down in the fourth quarter to take the surprise win down south. Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad controlled the game from the outset and took a 71-51 lead thanks to strong play from Kristian Doolittle, Roie Huber and Bryon Allen with 9 minutes left in regulation time, but Michael Brisker and Ronnie Harrell hit big shot after big shot down the stretch to know the score up at 78-78 to head into overtime. In the extra session Brisker and Tyus Battle made their shots count in money time to escape Eilat with a shocking 3-point victory.

Brisker led all scorers with 29 points, Harrell added 20 points and Battle scored 16 points in the win. Roie Huber scored 20 points, Allen chipped in with 18 points while Doolittle scored 16 points in the defeat.

“We weren’t in the game at all in the first half,” Brisker who scored his career high said following the game. But we focussed in the fourth quarter and played the way we should. I really wanted to win and I felt good on the court which influenced everyone and we came away with a tough victory.”

Bnei Herzliya defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 74-63 as the hosts went on a 12-1 run over the final six minutes of the game to take the victory. Chinanu Onuaku, Shawn Dawson and DJ Cooper helped Oren Aharoni’s squad jump out to a 24-16 lead after ten minutes but JP Tokoto, James Young and Bar Timor made sure to pull Danny Franco’s team even at 62-62 midway through the fourth quarter. However, the Herzliya defense locked down the Reds and Chris Babb drilled home two of his six 3-pointers in the game to take the 11-point win.

Onuaku led the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds, Babb added 18 points, Dawson chipped in with 11 points whole DJ Cooper dished out 11 assists in the win. JP Tokoto paced Hapoel with 23 points, James Young scored 11 points while both Bar Timor and Josh Owens scored 10 points a piece in the loss.

Game MVP Chris Babb was all smiles following the contest, “We got back to what worked and buckled down defensively, got big rebounds and got out on transition while we made plays in the second half. We got to be confident and we never lost that, we really pulled down the rebounds in the second half.”