Hapoel Jerusalem defeated 86-83 Hapoel Tel Aviv as Jared Harper nailed a 3-pointer with a second left in the game to snatch the victory and punch their ticket to the finals with a 2-1 series win. The Tel Aviv reds opened up the game with a flurry of baskets as Antonio Blakeney had the hot hand early on while Yam Madar and Jonathan Motley also scored, Chris Johnson countered as did Jared Harper from the line but Marcus Foster started to fill the basket, however, Yovel Zoosman caught on fire and Austin Wiley scored to tie the game up at 43-43 at halftime.

Dimitrios Itoudis’s team came out in the second half on fire from deep as Tomer Ginat, Ish Wainright, Blakeney, Madar and Foster all scored from beyond the arc to bump the host’s lead up to double digits but Roi Huber, Johnson, Harper cut down the gap while Zoosman’s 3-point play tied the game up at 81-81 with just over a minute to play. Huber hit a jumper, Madar scored a layup but Harper drilled a triple with a second left to take the win and advance to the final where they will play Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Harper scored 19 points, Zoosman added 16 points and Huber scored 13 points in the win. Blakeney scored 21 points, Foster put in 19 points and Motley scored 13 points in the loss.

“We got back into the game when we tried to find the right lineup,” Hapoel Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon said. “We were down 16 points already in this series so we knew that we could do it. We believed that we could win and we used our defense to get back into the game. As for the last play, we set up to make sure Harper would get the ball in his hands and I told him to go ahead and enjoy yourself.”

“I want to congratulate Jerusalem and it was a very interesting series,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis began. “The way the game went we could gave grabbed the win and it would have been well deserved but they came back with a big 3-pointer and they moved on. The club had the best record in the regular season and we did that on the court but had a tougher series to play because of the point we had taken off which cost us.”

Jerusalem captain Yovel Zoosman spoke about the win, “This was a very high level game with a lot of momentum which was great for Israeli basketball. We beat a very talented team and in a 3 game series anything can happen. We got ourselves into a huge hole by the end of the third quarter but we were able to dig out of it taking step by step.”

Tomer Ginat looked back at the game, “Congratulations to Jerusalem, it was a bad loss for us and we came short at the end and they made the big plays. We have to remember we won the EuroCup and we will feel better soon as coach says. We will come back better next season.”

Nimrod Levi and Yam Madar traded baskets to begin the game, Antonio Blakeney came in for a dunk from under the basket, Jeremy Morgan and Blakeney each went from deep and Jonathan Motley scored to give the hosts a 11-5 lead midway through the first quarter. Chris Johnson put in a easy deuce, Justin Smith dunked, Blakeney thread the needle for a dunk, Bruno Caboclo drilled home a corner 3-ball as Johnson did the same at the other end and Jared Harper scored his free throws, but a Guy Palatin bucket kept Dimitrios Itoudis’s team ahead 20-19 after ten minutes of play.

Harper led off the second quarter with a layup, Blakeney went from downtown, Marcus Foster put in a 4-point play and then drained another triple, Austin Wiley and Motley traded baskets as Smith put in a floater but Hapoel Tel Aviv stayed in front 34-29 with 5:35 left in the half. Yovel Zoosman scored a deuce and then added a 3-point play, Tomer Ginat drilled home a 3-pointer, Blakeney scored inside as did Wiley to knot the score up at 43-43 at halftime.

Ginat went from deep to begin the third quarter, Wiley scored inside, Khadeen Carrington hit a pull-up jumper, Ish Wainright came back with a corner 3-ball and Blakeney drilled home a triple to bump the Hapoel Tel Aviv lead up to 55-47 midway through the period. Madar and Blakeney dialled up long distance, Smith and Roi Huber tried to keep Yonatan Alon’s squad close, but Foster went from downtown to take a 68-54 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Foster scored on the inside to get the fourth quarter underway, Madar added a layup off the break, Huber, Harper and Zoosman tried to narrow the gap as they cut the lead down to 73-66 with five minutes remaining in regulation time. Huber went from deep again, Foster scored inside, Harper put in a layup, Ginat went from deep, Johnson and Harper scored, Foster and Harper traded triples, Zoosman’s 3-point play tied the game up at 81-81. Blakeney missed from deep and turned over the ball allowing Huber to hit a jumper in the lane, Madar scored a layup, but Harper drained a 3-pointer with a second left to close out the win and the series.