Hapoel Holon hung on to defeat Nes Ziona 76-74 in an entertaining game at the Lev HaMoshava Arena. After an even first quarter, Netanel Artzi, Kevin Hervey, CJ Harris and Drew Crawford sent the purples on a 14-0 run to take a 45-26 advantage into halftime but Isaiah Whitehead, Jerome Meyinsse and Zuf Ben Moshe cut down the lead to just a pair of points. However, Whitehead turned the ball over as time ran out and Holon chalked up the win.

Artzi scored 15 points, Harris added 14 points and Hervey scored 13 points in the win. Whitehead scored 19 points, Meyinsse chipped in with 18 points and Ben Moshe scoffed 10 points in the loss.

“This is the story of two halves and this will be a lesson for us,” Holon head coach Amit Sherf said. “We spoke about this and how to keep such a big lead that we had. We didn’t come into the second half with the same defensive commitment. Nes Ziona made some channels and we needed to adjust. We have a big week coming up with the Cup as the games continue on.”

“The guys really wanted it even too much and I told them this at halftime,” Nes Ziona coach Elad Hasin said about his team’s rough second quarter. “There was over motivation and I told them to play tough on defense as we were getting open host and layups that we were just missing. The second half we looked like a totally different team as we played really well but we were missing just a little bit to take the win.”

The game MVP Netanel Artzi spoke about the win, “We started the game exactly as we wanted to but we need to learn how to come out of halftime with the same intensity and not allow the other team to take control of the game. We also need to figure out how to keep our focus despite being exhausted. We are still in a process and next up is the State Cup and then the league championship”

Jerome Meyinsse also looked back at the game that was, “It was tough loss and we really played the second half as we wanted to with good defense and flow on offense, but we missed some opportunities early and if we capitalize on those then maybe wouldn’t have had to fight back so hard in the second half.”

Jerome Meyinsse and Yair Kravits started the game off for Nes Ziona with points while Hans Vanwijn, Niv Misgav and Kevin Hervey all went from deep for Hapoel Holon, Isaiah Whitehead came back with a 3-point play, Drew Crawford responded from the inside and outside but a Whitehead triple evens the game up at 20-20 after ten minutes of play.

Shawn Dawson led off the second quarter from long distance, Netanel Artzi added a trio of baskets as Hervey scored as well for a 14-0 run, Itay Segev and Whtehead scored Hervey knocked down a corner 3-ball while Harris went from the outside and inside to take a 45-26 advantage at halftime.

Harris and Rawle Alkins traded baskets, Kravits and Artzi did as well, Whitehead and Ben Moshe came back with deuces, Vanwijn thread the needle to Crawford, Harris hit a fadeaway, Meyinsse, Whitehead and Ben Moshe went from deep as Elad Hasin’s team cut the Holon lead down to 62-53 after thirty minutes of action.

Hervey began the fourth quarter with points, Tomer Levinson answered, Dawson and Segev traded buckets, Hervey drilled home a corner 3-ball, Crawford added a deuce as Kravits, Ben Moshe and Meyinsse chopped down the lead to 76-74 but Amit Sherf’s team held on for the win.

Hapoel Haifa slipped by Hapoel Tel Aviv 88-87 in a game that saw the Carmel Reds control from the get go with Marcus Bingham, Alex Hamilton and Jon Davis helping the visitors to the surprising win. Following the game a number of Hapoel Tel Aviv fans stormed the court and began attacking the opposing fans at the other end of the court that led to brutal scenes at the Drive In. Both teams put out statements condoning the violence while Tel Aviv owner Ofer Yannay posted in X that there will be some serious decisions and corrections that will be made and that he had run out of embarrassment.

Bingham scored 23 points, Davis added 19 points and Hamilton added 13 points and 10 assists in the win. Tomer Ginat had 20 points, Bar Timor added 14 points and 13 assists while Jaylen Hoard scored 12 points in the loss.