Hapoel Tel Aviv cruised past Maccabi Ramat Gan 86-50 to see their way into the State Cup semifinals. The Reds started off slowly but once Bar Timor came on midway through the first quarter, his insertion gave Dimitrios Itoudis’s team the spark needed as Patrick Beverley, Yam Madar and Antonio Blakeney found points to take a commanding 41-23 advantage at halftime. Jonathan Motley began to dominate the the paint in the second half while Bruno Caboclo and Guy Palatin scored as well to bump up the lead and take the victory.

Next up for Ramat Gan is a critical decisive game three in Basketball Champions League Play In action at Falco in Hungary while Hapoel will face the first place club in EuroCup Division A Bahcesehir on Wednesday.

Blakeney scored 14 points, Madar added 13 points while Motley and Beverley each scored 11 points in the win. Kendale McCullum scored 14 points and Roi Huber put in 10 points in the loss.

“We were very serious and we left no hopes for our opponents,” Hapoel coach Dimitrios Itoudis said, “Ramat Gan deserved our respect as to how they’ve played so far and I want to wish them luck in the BCL where they have a chance to do something special for Israeli basketball. Palatin gave us something extra in this game after he had been sick the same with Bar Timor as well. We came in strong and beat a very good opponent. This was like a final and a knockout game.”

“We’re disappointed and we could have played better,” Ramat Gan Head Coach Shmulik Brenner said. “We didn’t get into the game well and we missed a bunch of shots, it’s tough to play in this arena as well. Hapoel played tough defense throughout and we had to really make a decision in the third quarter to make sure we would be able to play well in our BCL game coming up on Tuesday.”

Guy Palatin began speaking about the hostages returning home and then talked about the game,” I want to say that the most important thing was seeing the hostages coming home. My role is to come off the bench and being a lot of defense to the squad. It’s a lot of fun for me, but I’ll do what coach needs me to do in order to win.”

Roi Huber reflected on the loss, “This wasn’t a good game from us and we didn’t begin well at all. Now we have to turn our sights on Tuesday’s BCL game and make sure we come in with all of our energy and bring home a terrific result.”

Kendale McCullum scored the first seven points for Maccabi Ramat Gan, Patrick Beverley knocked down a 3-pointer, Bar Timor put in a layup and Yam Madar went from deep for Hapoel Tel Aviv, Roi Huber put in a deuce, Tomer Ginat came back with a triple, Guy Palatin and Beverley dialled up from long distance to give the reds a 19-12 lead after ten minutes of play.

Antonio Blakeney hit an off balance jumper and a 3-pointer to begin the second quarter, Adam Ariel went from deep, Oz Blayzer scored a reverse layup, Yahel Melamed and Amin Stevens scored, Blakeney cleaned up the boards to give Hapoel a 41-23 advantage at halftime.

McCullum and Miles scored to begin the third quarter, Jonathan Motley started filling the basket, Palatin went from downtown, Motley dunked, Beverley went from deep, Miles came back with points, Ginat responded, Bruno Caboclo dialled up long distance and dunked, Dori Sahar did the same but Blakeney added more points to give Dimitrios Itoudis’s team a 65-38 lead after thirty minutes of action.

Madar went from beyond the arc to get the fourth quarter underway, Roi Huber did the same at the other end of the court, Caboclo kept scoring, while Bar Timor also went from deep to wrap up the victory.

Hapoel Jerusalem slipped by Hapoel Beer Sheva 99-96 to move on to the State Cup Final Four. The Southern Reds played the capital city side tight throughout the game and led late in the fourth quarter thanks to superb play by Iverson Molinar, Ron Zipper and newcomer Justin McKoy. However, down the stretch Khadeen Carrington, Yovel Zoosman, Chris Johnson and Jared Harper were all instrumental in turning the game around and take the close win.

Carrington scored 20 points, Tarik Phillip added 18 points, Harper put in 17 points and Zoosman scored 15 points in the win. McKoy scored 27 points, Molinar chipped in with 26 points and Zipper scored 19 points in the loss.

“I knew it would be very difficult,” Jerusalem bench boss Yonatan Alon said. “I know their team and what they can do along with our mental state, I’m glad we won. We defended poorly, we dominated the first half but in the third quarter we were not there either offensively or defensively. The main thing is that we won, that’s what’s important.”

“I very disappointed,” Beer Sheva coach Rami Hadar said. “We reached the last few minutes with a lead and this loss is a little hard to accept, but that’s life in this profession. You have to get up and get to the next practice and that’s what we’ll do. We were missing one thing, we’re not yet playing as a team yet. When you make changes to lineups and have players who are playing our of position it’s going to be difficult.”

Khadeen Carrington added, “I feel great. It was tough, but at this stage of the season I’ll take any win, especially in the cup. It was a game of runs but we stayed in the game both ups and downs. We have a group of fighters who always want to win and I was aggressive throughout the game.”