Hapoel Holon eased past Nes Ziona 81-68 thanks to a terrific fourth quarter to move into the Winner Cup semifinals on Saturday night where they will face the winner of the Maccabi Tel Aviv and Kiryat Ata matchup.

The purples grabbed an early lead thanks to Marcus Bingham’s strong play, but Bryce Brown, Ricky Lindo and Darnell Edge all scored to give Nes Ziona a 39-37 halftime lead. Amir Sherf’s squad stayed in front over the third quater but stellar play from Michale Kyser, Elijah Mitrou-Long, Jalen Adams, Niv Misgav and Netanel Artzi handed Guy Goodes’s team the victory.

Bingham led the way with 18 points, Kyser added 12 points and Mitrou-Long scored 11 points in the win. Brown scored 19 points, Lindo chipped in with 15 points and Edge scored 9 points in the loss.

“This was a good preseason game for us,” Guy Goodes said. “That allowed us to improve certain areas and see some of the new players come together nicely. The guys are friendly both on and off the court which is very important for us going forward and makes things easier. We didn’t begin the third quarter well but it was also good this happened now and we can learn from it. But the fourth quarter was a great and we were able to turn it up a notch and were able to play excellent defense while scoring well. There is plenty to improve upon but ultimately this was a good game for us.”

“We didn’t start well and in the fourth quarter we had issues on offense,” Nes Ziona coach Amit Sherf said. “We had fouls to give and you can’t beat a team like this without using your fouls and not having players who come to help out on the court.”

Netanel Artzi looked back at the win, “It was an intense game and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We saw what happened to Hapoel Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with their upset losses so we made sure to finish the game off and we kept playing at a high level all the way until the end of the game.”

Bryce Brown reflected on the game, “Firstly, I want to thank all of the fans for coming out. We had some rough stretches on defense and I felt they were first to the floor on some things. They played great defense and made bigger plays down the stretch but overalll I see improvement on the court and the preseason has been helpful.”

Hapoel Holon got down to business early and often as Marcus Bingham scored on the inside and outside while Elijah Mitrou-Long and Idan Zalmanson added points as Bryce Brown tried to keep Nes Ziona close but the purples grabbed a 20-11 lead after ten minutes of play. Michale Kyser and Ricky Lindo traded baskets to begin the second quarter, Niv Misgav and Bingham found the bucket for Guy Goodes’s team as Darnell Edge and Lindo scored at will while Brown drilled home a triple to stun Holon and give Nes Ziona a 39-37 advantage at halftime.

Itay Segev opened the third quarter with points for Amit Sherf’s squad, Bingham and Mitrou-Long answered for Holon as Kyser and Netanel Artzi also scored but points from Brown and Tomer Levinson kept Nes Ziona ahead 54-51 after thirty minutes of action. Mitrou-Long for a deuce, Misgav from the corner and Kyser inside scored quickly for Holon Jake Van Tubbergen countered, but a pair of baskets by Artzi, a 3-pointer by Bingham and a layup by Jalen Adams put the purples ahead by double digits to take the win.