Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion 78-77 Bnei Herzliya

Mark Lyons scored at the buzzer to give Rishon Le’Zion the quarterfinal State Cup win over Herzliya in a crazy game between the two teams. James Singelton had given Herzliya the lead just seconds earlier but Lyons came to the rescue for Sharon Drucker’s charges. Rishon looked to be running away with the game by 48-33 at the half, but an inspired third quarter from Karam Mashour who finished the night with 11 points for Herzliya helped his side to a 21-8 frame. That pulled Herzliya to within 2-points with the score standing at 56-54 going into the 4th quarter.

A monster start to the final frame by Drew Crawford (24pts) put Herzliya ahead but sharpshooting by Shawon Dawson (16pts), Kevin Palmer, Daryl Monroe (23pts) and of course Mark Lyons (12pts, 7assists) gave the Orange the win and a trip to the State Cup semi finals.

Maccabi Haifa 70-73 Maccabi Tel Aviv

The Yellow-and-Blue pulled off a Houdini and Copperfield all rolled into one as Taylor Rochestie nailed a three pointer in the dying seconds to giving the visiting Tel Aviv side the win. After a very close first half which saw Tel Aviv up 37-36 at the break, the Greens pulled away 58-51 after 3-quarters looking to knock off both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in back to back State Cup games. However, Rami Hadad’s side couldn’t stop Maccabi as they went on a 19-2 run to end the game after being down by as many as 14 points with the score 68-54 midway through the final frame. But Trevor Mbkawe helped Maccabi get to the point where Rochestie had the last shot and drained the trey for the win.

Hapoel Ramat Gan/Givatayim 79-91 Ironi Nes Ziona

The Cinderella story of this year’s State Cup ended well before midnight last night as the Ramat Gan side ended their tournament run. At a packed Zisman Auditorium the hosts led after the first quarter 25-23, and even went ahead 36-29 in the second frame, but 18-4 run by Nes Ziona did the Reds in as the half ended 47-40 in favor of the visitors who would go on to advance to the semi finals. Yoad Beit Yosef led the way for Ramat Gan with 25 points as Fuquan Edwin matched his points total with 25 of his own as Diamon Simpson chipped in with 16 points in the victory.

Maccabi Ashdod 91-79 Maccabi Kiryat Gat

Ashdod took a 52-36 lead into the half but a quick run by Kiryat Gat and it’s sharpshooter Marco Killngsworth cut the Elad to just a single point at 58-57. But that’s when Diante Garrett (26pts) and Charles Thomas (23pts) took things into their own hands to run away with the 12-point victory. Alando Tucker scored 20 points as Paul Delaney dropped 24 points in the loss.