Hapoel Jerusalem squeaked by Bnei Herzliya 89-86 to advance to the Israel State Cup final after a intense 40 minute battle at the Arena. Jared Harper was named the MVP of the game as the Reds will find out who there opponent will be on Thursday night in the title game after Monday’s second semifinal which features a Tel Aviv derby between Maccabi and Hapoel.

In a back-and-forth game from the tip-off, Yovel Zoosman and Justin Smith took control early on but Jimmy Clark, Chris Silva and John Meeks countered to keep Herzliya in front 25-20 after the opening quarter. However, Zoosman continued to find the basket as did Jared Harper and Smith while Sneed and Clark countered to keep Yehu Orland’s close but Yonatan Alon’s team took a 42-39 advantage into halftime.

The second half saw Silva starting to really impact the inside while Zoosman and Clark traded baskets as well while Harper and Sneed did the same to keep the Reds in the drivers seat heading into the final frame holding a slim 65-64 lead. Chris Johnson scored a pair of key baskets for Jerusalem while Harper kept finding the hoop as well, but once again Sneed, Clark and Silva kept Herzliya right there as the lead switched hands numerous times down the stretch.

With 14 seconds left and Jerusalem ahead 87-86 thanks to Zoosman’s free throw, John Meeks came up short on an open 3-pointer, Austin Wiley hit a pair from the charity stripe and Ethan Burg missed a last gasp triple to tie the game up as Alon’s side punched their ticket to the final.

Harper scored 24 points, Zoosman added 18 points and 9 rebounds and Smith put in 15 points in the win. Silva scored 21 points, Sneed chipped in with 18 points and Clark scored 16 points in the loss.

“You have to give credit to Bnei Herzliya, they played very well and they really hit the right spots,” Hapoel Jerusalem Head Coach Yonatan Alon said. “The little things made an impact, Austin Wiley grabs an offensive rebound here and there and it’s the small details that win games. I won’t take too much from the game itself as we didn’t play well enough. We made mistakes on defense. We’ll play against a different team, no matter who it is in the final. We’ll let the guys rest, recover, we’ll see who the opponent is and we’ll have two days to prepare.”

“John Meeks had a good shot and it was just short,” Bnei Herzliya Head Coach Yehu Orland said. “It’s so hard right now to go over the game and focus just on the end. It’s the entire game, so may things happened. We put a lot of pressure on the guards and we saw that Jared Harper with 24 points wasn’t as good as he had been recently. I’m very content as to how we played but we have to go back and look at the video and see what we can improve on.”

Jared Harper, the game MVP spoke about the keys to the win and how he was able to adjust to play a better second half and help the team to the win, “We stayed together as a team, we had a lot of good efforts. Overall it was a team effort and good job from everybody. We didn’t want to give him too good of a look and maybe foul, I was there and he missed a good shot, I’m glad we finished off with the win. Every game I try to take what’s in front of me, stick to the game plan and I got into a rhythm in the second half but and it may not be scoring as the focus but making the right play and taking the right shots.”

Yovel Zoosman also talked about the win, “I don’t have an answer for exactly what play decided the game, it was a basket here and a basket there. Austin Wiley snatched the ball on a pass to Silva. We missed quite a few free throws, especially at the end of the game, but I think Herzliya played very well and they are a very high-quality team. I’m glad we won, but it was a 40-minute game that could have gone either way, just like last year’s semifinal.”

Xavier Sneed reflected on the loss, “I love to play basketball and I do everything I can to play basketball and I play to entertain. It was a close game, free throws win games and you have to hit them. Critical stops and rebounds, it’s about the little things and if I have to go back and see the film, there are so many small details that we had to pay attention to. We wanted to go to the final, everyone did and it was frustrating for us all. But we will get back onto the floor and everything will be alright. If we can take things from here then we can grow.

Yovel Zoosman bullied his way in for a pair of points, Jared Harper went from deep and Justin Smith put down a monster dunk to get the game rolling for Hapoel Jerusalem, while Jimmy Clark took a pass from Chris Silva to put Bnei Herzliya on the board, Silva then powered in some points in the paint and Frederic Bourdillon drained one from deep as the score was all knotted up at 9-9 midway through the opening quarter.

Clark came in with an uncontested dunk and added another jam off a turnover, Khadeen Carrington scored, John Meeks countered with a pair from downtown, Ethan Burg and Josh Hawley added deuces and Chris Johnson came back with a floater but Herzliya held a 25-20 lead after ten minutes of play.

Zoosman opened the scoring in the second quarter, Xavier Sneed came back with an acrobatic bucket, Zoosman went from beyond the arc and Gaby Chachashvili put in an easy bucket under the basket, Clark drilled one from deep and Harper matched him to give the reds a slim 31-30 lead with just over five minutes left in the half. Clark and Sneed both went from deep, Johnson countered from the inside, Burg went from the outside but Smith and Carrington scored at the other end to give Jerusalem a 42-39 advantage at halftime.

Silva pumped in a pair of points to begin the third quarter, Zoosman came back from deep and Tarik Phillip put in an easy rebound, Silva answered at the other end while Zoosman and Clark traded baskets as Yonatan Alon’s team stayed in front 51-48 midway through the period. Clark and Chachashvili each scored, Bourdillon hit a trio of free throws, Hawley and Sneed hit a triple a piece, Harper put in an easy pair of jumpers, Sneed went from deep but Harper scored a pair of baskets to keep Jerusalem ahead 65-64 after thirty minutes of action.

Carrington dialled up long distance to get the fourth quarter underway, Zoosman and Johnson added baskets to quickly take a 74-64 lead, Clark came back with a layup, Smith dunked, Bourdillon and Sneed went from downtown to cut the Jerusalem lead to 78-76 with 5:03 remaining in regulation time. Sneed drilled home yet another 3-pointer, Harper and Silva each hit their free throws, Harper went from deep, Burg put in a layup, Meeks missed from beyond the arc and Austin Wiley hit his free throws to wrap up the victory.