Hapoel Tel Aviv crushed Nes Ziona 102-69 to cruise into the semifinals with a 3-0 series sweep. The Reds will play the winner of the Hapoel Jerusalem and Bnei Herzliya series which is knotted up at 1-1. Prior to the game Tomer Ginat was honored after being selected as a 1st Team All-Star and Bar Timor earned the 6th Man of the Season award.

Danny Franco’s squad came out flying to begin the game as they were clicking on all cylinders with Jordan McRae and Tomer Ginat leading the way while J’Covan Brown also found points to take a 56-32 lead at halftime. Xavier Munford and Chinanu Onuaku started to score in the second half as Hapoel took the 33-point win.

Ginat led the way with 16 points, McRae added 15 points while Onuaku and Brown each scored 13 points in the win. Tyler Bey paced Nes Ziona with 16 points in the loss.

“We are happy to make the Final Four in the league once again and we are where we need to be and where Hapoel Tel Aviv should be,” Hapoel coach Danny Franco explained. “We came in with physical and intense play. Nes Ziona made sure we didn’t come in complacent and we wanted to come in here and finish off the game and the series. The two possible opponents either Hapoel Jerusalem or Bnei Herzliya, will be a challenge for us and I don’t think that the home court will make a difference. Sometimes it’s tough to take a break after a good run of games and I won’t rule doing anything out. But one thing is certain I never thought we would sweep Nes Ziona.”

“It wasn’t a pleasant loss but we have to look at every part of this season,” Nes Ziona coach Elad Hasin began. “People said we would go down a league but we had an incredible first round. We decided to keep the group together despite having some issues. We made some changes within the team and we were able to make it to the top 6 and the State Cup semifinals. However, we saw all of the ghosts come out in this series and I tried to do everything to keep the team together as a doctor with a patient. We lost to a very good team that is playing excellent basketball. I’d rather look at the glass that’s half full as we did some very nice things this season and some players had their best years ever.”

J’Covan Brown spoke about the win as he looked ahead, “We have to keep the same mindset day in and day out. We have to do our best at practice and in the games as well as we already win three and we have to take four more but we know it won’t be easy. Nes Ziona wasn’t an easy opponent and we have to go back to the drawing board to make sure that we have that identity we had when we won 8-9 games in a row and then we can go and try to win a championship.”

Jerome Meyinsse spoke about the season that was for Nes Ziona, “We accomplished one of goals which was to make the top 6 and we started the season off well with some good and some bad moments. It was a good learning experience for everyone involved. We will live to fight another day. I can’t argue with that. When things were going well we were too high and when we things went bad we were too inconsistent with our play. As the year goes on fatigue sets in both physically and mentally.”

Jordan McRae for Hapoel Tel Aviv and Jerome Meyinsse from Nes Ziona made their presence felt as the game got underway, but J’Covan Brown with a turnaround jumper and then a triple gave the reds a 15-9 lead midway through the first quarter. Raz Adam found points for Elad Hasin’s team but Tomer Ginat scored and Xavier Munford drilled home a pair of 3-pointers to give Danny Franco’s team a 31-15 lead after ten minutes of play.

Chinanu Onuaku and Brown continued to score for Hapoel as did McRae to begin the second quarter, Adam went from way downtown, Zuf Ben Moshe and Ginat traded buckets, Adam Ariel went for a pair from deep to give Hapoel a 56-32 advantage at halftime.

Brown went from downtown, Onuaku put down a massive dunk, Ginat scored off the glass, Shaq Buchanan, Ben Moshe and Tyler Bey responded, Onuaku added a triple, Bar Timor went in for a layup, Ginat scored, Munford jammed and Ariel went from deep to go up 81-50 after thirty minutes.

Jaylen Hoard and Bey traded baskets to start off the fourth quarter while McRae and Idan Zalmanson added a triple as Hapoel Tel Aviv rolled into the semifinals.